Elly De La Cruz broke Reds teammate's car window during duo’s spring showdown

It's a spring full of hope for a Cincinnati Reds team which surpassed expectations in 2023. Young prospects like Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain and more were called up to the majors and delivered right away. Eventually, even De La Cruz hit a road block, but come 2024 Opening Day Reds fans at Great American Ballpark will rightly expect Cincinnati to take a step forward.

That magic was in play on Tuesday, as De La Cruz faced off against Hunter Greene in spring training. De La Cruz hit a foul ball out of the stadium which provided hilarious karma for the pitcher he was facing.

Elly's going to have to pay for that.

Reds have high expectations for Elly De La Cruz, 2024 season

The Reds made some modest additions this offseason in the likes of Jeimer Candelario, Frankie Montas, Emilio Pagan and more. However, they still lack starting pitching, a flaw they'll come face to face with at the trade deadline should they be in contention come late July.

De La Cruz himself came back down to earth like a meteor following his impressive debut series and the following weeks. However, he's still expected to lock down a starting spot and has some of the most impressive tools on Baseball America's top-100 prospect list, per Sports Illustrated.

"De La Cruz showed off his three 70-grade skills quite a few times last year. Baseball America rated his power, speed, and arm as a 70 on the 20-80 scale. He was just the third player since 1901 to hit for the cycle in his first 15 career MLB games. He was the youngest to do it since a 20-year old Cesar Cedeno accomplished the feat in 1972," Jeff Carr wrote.

The 2024 Reds will look much different, namely because Joey Votto isn't on the roster. Cincinnati's long-term leader is still awaiting a new home on the free agent market, and isn't around to settle silly disputes like De La Cruz taking a chunk out of Greene's car window.