Budding Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz homered from both sides of the plate in a Saturday spring-training game.

In the bottom of the first inning, De La Cruz, who was hitting third, hit one of his trademark, high-arching, moonshot home runs in the Cincinnati Reds ' Cactus League opener against Cleveland Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie.

They defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 in game one and they blew a late lead in game two, falling to the Brewers 8-7.

Reds manager Terry Francona says he wants Elly De La Cruz to be "the best player in baseball on the best team in baseball."

Elly De La Cruz is picking up where he left off. The Reds star shortstop homered twice in his spring debut -- one from each side of the plate -- on Saturday.

De La Cruz is hoping to build off a promising All-Star campaign in 2024. In 160 games last season, the shortstop led the big leagues in strikeouts (218) but also batted .259/.339/.471 with 25 homers and 67 stolen bases. He became the first player in MLB history to notch at least 100 stolen bases and 30 homers over his first two seasons.

Cincinnati opened its spring training schedule with split squad games against the Guardians and the Brewers. De La Cruz was with the team taking on Cleveland, and he didn’t waste any time. He treated the crowd to a show, looking like he is in midseason form already.