With Laynce Nix ailing and the Reds playing a player short over the weekend, the Reds bench has looked like this the past two nights:
– the backup catcher
– Miguel Cairo
– rookie Chris Heisey
– Paul Janish
You can’t really go with the backup catcher earlier in the game, and Chris Heisey is probably your best choice of the remaining three. As a team, the Reds have just 8 hits in 53 pinch-hit plate appearances, which ranks them 14th in the NL in pinch-hitting AVG and OPS.
The following statistics are through Friday night:
| Rk |  | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | BA 6 | OBP | SLG | OPS | GDP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STL | 58 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13 | .333 | .393 | .490 | .883 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | SFG | 49 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | .325 | .404 | .550 | .954 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | FLA | 61 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | .304 | .361 | .357 | .718 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | MIL | 59 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 | .288 | .362 | .481 | .843 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | PIT | 62 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 17 | .281 | .323 | .351 | .673 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | ARI | 58 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 | .255 | .333 | .294 | .627 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | WSN | 55 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | .250 | .315 | .396 | .711 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | ATL | 55 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | .240 | .309 | .420 | .729 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | HOU | 62 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 | .233 | .258 | .383 | .641 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | COL | 52 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 16 | .205 | .327 | .432 | .759 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | LAD | 61 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 15 | .204 | .267 | .370 | .637 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | NYM | 64 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 15 | .200 | .250 | .300 | .550 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | CHC | 60 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 16 | .173 | .271 | .288 | .560 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | CIN | 53 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 16 | .163 | .226 | .265 | .492 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | SDP | 59 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 17 | .154 | .224 | .231 | .455 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | PHI | 51 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | .133 | .220 | .222 | .442 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|  | TOT | 919 | 192 | 39 | 9 | 16 | 76 | 205 | .234 | .302 | .362 | .664 | 15 | 11 | 5 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/15/2010.
Miguel Cairo is leading the team in pinch hitting appearances, but has just 1 hit to show for it.
| Rk |  | PA 6 | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | GDP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miguel Cairo | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .071 | .071 | .071 | .143 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Laynce Nix | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .200 | .273 | .500 | .773 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Chris Dickerson | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .286 | .286 | .571 | .857 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Jonny Gomes | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Ryan Hanigan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Jay Bruce | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Micah Owings | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Ramon Hernandez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Chris Heisey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Juan Francisco | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Drew Stubbs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Joey Votto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |  | 1.000 |  |  | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|  | Team Total | 53 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 16 | .163 | .226 | .265 | .492 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/15/2010.
The other troubling thing about the current Reds bench is that they are the first options to start when a player needs a day off or comes up with the dreaded day-to-day injury. I’d rather see Janish, Heisey or just about anyone in AAA getting more PH opportunities than Miguel Cairo. Perhaps it is time to bring up Chris Valaika to serve as the backup infielder.