Padres Highlights: Manny Machado Shows Rookie Phenom Elly De La Cruz Why He’s Still the Best

Don't mess with Manny!

The San Diego Padres season has been a letdown so far. As a team that entered with World Series aspirations after a strong offseason, the team just hasn’t found a way to put it all together. They struggle on offense most games and the pitching has kept them alive to this point, but even that has started to fade off a little bit.

Over this past weekend, the Padres dropped two of three games to the upstart Cincinnati Reds but third baseman Manny Machado may have had the play of the weekend.

Reds rookie sensation Elly De La Cruz hit a hard liner towards the third base side, thinking that he had another hit. But Machado had other ideas. See the video below!

Elly meets Manny. pic.twitter.com/HPZbyS0SQp

— MLB (@MLB) June 30, 2023

It was a special play by Machado and one that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Machado has been one of the better defensive third baseman in the league since he made his debut back in the day so this is just another spectacular highlight to add to his film.

Elly De La Cruz had his welcome to the big leagues type of moment here, courtesy of Machado. The level of talent at the big leagues is insane and we see awesome defensive plays all the time across Major League Baseball.

Machado flashed the leather in impressive fashion but even with this highlight, it didn't help the Padres take the series as mentioned previously. 

San Diego went 1-5 on their road trip and as they gear up for the final week prior to the All-Star game, they need to start grabbing wins.