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As I noted the last time around, sometimes, I like to poke around the Play Index over at Baseball Reference. If you aren’t a subscriber, I urge you to consider it. I love it.

Anyway, for whatever reason, I was thinking about Jesse Winker’s rookie season, which will be 2018. (He’s still a rookie, according to MLB rules.) I have high hopes for Winker, of course, so I began wondering how he might stack up to previous Cincinnati Reds rookies…

Actually, that would be third-best among all Reds rookie outfielders. But it would still be top-five among all Reds rookies ever.

Go pre-order that book! (Here’s the Amazon link to pre-order. And here’s Barnes & Noble.)

This has been another episode of “Chad Re-purposing His Tweets As Actual #Content.” Enjoy!

13 Responses

  1. cfd3000

    Great fun Chad. But if we don’t get more info on Orval Overall then RLN will have let me down in ways I may not recover from. As a kid I thought one of the greatest things about baseball was the amazing names of yore. Cuckoo Christensen is a new one for me, but how can you not love some Orval Overall?

    • big5ed

      We are doing an abbreviated 1906 Strat-o-Matic league (I am the Giants), and Orval Overall’s name came up. He was apparently traded to the Cubs in mid-season, having gone 18-23 for the Reds as a rookie in 2005. He led the league in shutouts in 1907 and 1909 for the Cubs, plus Ks (at 6.5/9IP in 2009). The game was vastly different, even aside from no power. Pretty much no regular hitter has any platoon splits; strikeouts are rare; and they make tons of errors. It’s kind of like high school ball now.

      Cuckoo Christensen is a new one for me, too.

    • Chad Dotson

      Agreed. I think we’re way past due for a feature piece here at the Nation about Orval Overall.

  2. ncboiler

    Does anyone know why Cuckoo Christensen only played one year after tearing it up after his rookie season?

    • Adam M. Singhoff

      From what I was able to dig up, he started his career with 4 seasons playing for St Paul in the American Association (essentially a minor league, but defined in other places as an “outlaw circuit” not fully associated with MLB.) Cuckoo actually led the AA league in runs scored one year and stolen bases in another. St Paul traded his rights to the Reds prior to the 1926 season, hence the reason for being a 26 yr old rookie in the league.

      Despite his ability to get hits, Cuckoo was only 5 ft 6 and 150 lbs so the majority of those hits with the Reds were singles. He never hit a big league home run and combined for only 28 extra base hits in his 2 years of pro ball. The only thing I could really find is that his second year slump was pretty drastic, especially in terms of slugging (from 438 to 286.) After his 2nd year, it said he just never returned to the league. The next time he resurfaced in baseball was a return to the American Association where he finished his baseball career with the Milwaukee Brewers from 1930 to 1933.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_Christensen

      https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Cuckoo_Christensen

  3. Reaganspad

    Jay Tibbs and Gary Redus. That was when we were rebuilding the machine.

    I would have thought Kal Daniels would have slipped into one of those lines

    • Chad Jones

      Good ol’ Jay Tibbs. There’s a blast from the past. I think we got him in the Bruce Berenyi(sp?) trade to the Mets. I remember when Redus, Milner, and Householder were supposed to be the next Griffey,Collins, and Foster. Milner and Redus were serviceable, but Householder was a major bust.

  4. Brock

    Joey Votto only had a .368 OBP in his rookie year?! What an awful player. No wonder he never panned out.

  5. Brock

    How about Scott Williamson with 2.8 WAR as a RELIEVER in 1999. What a special year he had.

  6. cfd3000

    Agree Cossack. I’m not sure that’s my single biggest disappointment, but it is big. If the Reds aren’t in talks with Suarez and his agent something is very wrong. And if they haven’t resolved it by arbitration day, they need to go in and make this short but simple presentation to the arbitrator: “Please rule in favor of Mr. Suarez. We hope he’s a long term key player for the Reds and hope to negotiate a significant contract extension with him. Until that deal is completed we want him to know we really appreciate what he contbutes to the Reds.”

  7. Streamer88

    Without the ability to confirm reds record for castillos starts, I still laugh at his 2.5 WAR – just shows how even advanced stats can get messy. His win loss record was 3-7. So … a replacement level pitcher would’ve generated 0 wins in those games started?

  8. Jeff Reed

    What a cold off-season this has been in contrast to the usual hot-stove league of years gone by. But the Reds have made three acquisitions for the relief corps which will, hopefully, mean they can identify the young pitchers who have what it takes to be starters in the majors. Always glad when the Super Bowl is here since ST is not far off.

  9. Jeff Reed

    Winker will only get a real chance in the outfield when Price is no longer the manager. In the meantime, the Reds will miss out on his daily on-base ability.

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