Well, boys, it’s a round ball and a round bat and you got to hit the ball square.
~Joe Schultz, 1969
Fourteen percet of the season has passed. Poof… it’s gone, in the books, it’s now what we sometimes call…the past. Thus it’s time to kick some tires on that small sample car that has just zoomed through the past 4 weeks.
Let’s start with the team overview. (Note: all stats are prior to Mondays game)
Description Ranking Won-Lost Record 11-11 Place 3rd of 6 in National League Central Runs Scored 114 1st in the majors Runs Allowed 97 19th in the majors Home Runs 27 3rd in the majors Home Runs Allowed 24 25th in the majors Batting Average .262 8th in the majors Batting Average Allowed .257 20th in the majors Walks Drawn 82 5th in the majors Walks Given 80 26th in the majors OPS For .757 5th in the majors OPS Against .753 23rd in the majors Stolen Bases 19 6th in the majors Stolen Bases Allowed 20 23rd in the majors
If you’ve been a Reds fan for a long time (like me), this looks about par for the course: lots of runs, lots of pop and a questionable pitching staff. In short, the team needs to stabilize the starting staff, and the big bats and the bullpen are carrying this team. I’m really impressed with the bullpen, which has allowed only four inherited runners to score all season, in only 3 games!
Good pitching teams will always roll out relief guys that are surprises, Nick Masset-types who burn bright and are also often the hidden stars of the staff, eating innings, and getting big middle inning outs at a lower cost than the what the team pays for outs on the front end of the game and the back end.
Currently the Reds have Logan Ondrusek playing the part of wunderkind. Logan, with an era below 0.75, a whip of 1.18 and an ERA+ of 568, is having quite a year so far.
Below is a small sketch of how he’s done it.
Batters Faced 54
Reached Base 20
Retired 34Reached Base by:
Single 8
Double 0
Triple 0
Home Run 0
Walk 7
Hit Batsman 0
Error 2
Fielder’s Choice (FC)
FC All Safe 0
FC with Out 3Retired by:
Strikeout 12
Ground Out 8
Line Out 0
Fly Out 13
Pop Out 1
Other 0Innings Pitched 12.2
Runs Allowed 2
Innings Started 11
Runs in Those Innings 2Shutout Innings 9
One-Run Innings 2Got First Man Out 6
Runs Scored in Those Innings 0
Runs/9 Innings 0.00First Man Reached 5
Runs Scored in Those Innings 2
Runs/9 Innings 3.601-2-3 Innings 5
10-pitch Innings (or less) 2
Long Innings (20 or more pitches) 3
Failed to Finish Inning 0
The bottom of the Reds order has been weak so far this season, and that means one thing: let’s look at our shortstop.
Below is the batting line for National League shortstops.
.265/.318/.372/.690
Below is the batting line for Reds shortstops.
.291/.315/.314/.629
Below is the batting line for Paul Janish, who has 75% of the Reds SS at-bats this season.
.277/.294/.292/.586
Below is the WORST OPS for a Reds SS vs the other SS in the league since World War 2.
OPS YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE PA RB OUTS AGE Roy McMillan 1953 -.123 .591 .714 610 174 451 23 Virgil Stallcup 1948 -.095 .569 .664 566 141 439 26 Roy McMillan 1954 -.092 .621 .713 677 199 489 24 Jeff Keppinger 2008 -.073 .657 .730 502 154 363 28 Virgil Stallcup 1949 -.064 .604 .667 589 157 443 27 Dave Concepcion 1983 -.054 .583 .638 593 179 444 35 Virgil Stallcup 1950 -.054 .632 .686 507 138 383 28 Roy McMillan 1952 -.051 .656 .707 590 180 428 22 Orlando Cabrera 2010 -.049 .657 .706 537 161 391 35 Roy McMillan 1955 -.042 .692 .734 556 199 372 25
Janish is on pace to displace Virgil Stallcup in the number 2 slot. He has 3 walks for the season in almost 70 ABs. With the glove he’s doing fine, and is rated on Dewan’s Fielding Bible as saving 4 runs so far this season, which a good thing considering what he’s doing with the stick.
Fourteen percent of the season isn’t enough to tell us too much, but like a good story it can provide some foreshadowing.