Elly De La Cruz Is Trying To Learn Japanese So He Can Talk To Shohei Ohtani At The ASG

Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz is one of the most talented players in the MLB.

He can hit for power, has a cannon for an arm, and can steal bases at a level no one else in today’s game can (he leads the league with 43 stolen bags, which is more than five individual teams have total). 

It’s no wonder why he was selected to this year’s National League All-Star team, even if he’s only a reserve (the NL roster was a bit weird this year). Regardless, he will still get to play in the Midsummer Classic at Globe Life Field.

Aside from attending his first All-Star Game, De La Cruz is super excited to meet and hang out with Los Angeles Dodger phenom Shohei Ohtani. But there’s just one problem.

Ohtani, who is Japanese, doesn’t speak English. De La Cruz, who is Dominican, is still working on mastering that language, though he has made incredible improvements to the point where he does postgame interviews in English.

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So how in the world does De La Cruz plan on communicating with a peer that he respects so much? It certainly can’t be Google translate, because that would be awkward.

Instead, De La Cruz revealed in an interview today that he is going all in to learn as much Japanese as he can in order to exchange a few words with Ohtani.

If the MLB has any sense, they will call Trea Turner and tell him, "Hey man, sorry, but Elly De La Cruz is trying to learn one of the most difficult languages on the planet, so you’re not starting the All-Star Game anymore because he's way cooler than you." 

Like seriously, how cool is that? Who has the level of drive to be one of the best athletes in the game, and put in the work to try to be trilingual? Some guys are just built different.

The All-Star Game is Tuesday at 8 p.m. I sure as heck hope I see these two guys conversing in Japanese.