Cincinnati Reds phenom Elly De La Cruz hit a 455-foot home run on Wednesday night and then pointed to his bat before he rounded the bases.

Specifically, De La Cruz was pointing to a plastic sensor covering on the end of his bat, which umpires forced him to remove it earlier in the game.

"Just to tell everybody that the knob is not the reason why I am doing a good job," De La Cruz said. "It's because of all the work I'm putting out there."

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez questioned the use of the sensor before De La Cruz batted in the second.

Umpires reviewed the legality of the knob cover with the league office and informed De La Cruz he was allowed to put it back on his bat for his second at-bat in the third.

"It's something that we use in spring training," De La Cruz said through an interpreter. "It's just a sensor that we use, but it's just the plastic that covers the bat. There's nothing else besides that. I started using it back in 2021. It just felt more comfortable using that, and from there on out I asked for more of those plastic shells."