Of all of the issues that one could have foreseen for the Cincinnati Reds this season, this was not one of them:
Reds are dead last in hard contact rate as calculated by Statcast (EV of 95+ mph).
Y I K E S https://t.co/5d6bK3aHpL
— Matt Wilkes (@_MattWilkes) April 18, 2019
This malady has translated to the worst team batting average in the majors as of this date, .200; the third-worst team on-base percentage, .270, and the seventh-worst team OPS, .644. You have to believe that sooner or later, these guys are going to swing the bat the way the back of their individual baseball cards indicates that they should. But will it be too late to translate into anything meaningful in 2019?
Tonight at 10:10 Eastern time, the Reds begin a four-game weekend series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Since sweeping the Marlins at home last week and boosting some hopes, the Reds have dropped four of five against the Cardinals and Dodgers.
Starting Pitchers
| Name | IP | ERA | xFIP | K% | BB% |
| Tanner Roark | 14.2 | 4.30 | 4.51 | 22.1% | 8.8% |
| Chris Paddack | 14 | 1.29 | 3.82 | 30.2% | 11.3% |
Paddack is a rookie right-hander who has struck out 16 batters over 14 innings in three starts to date. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017 at a time when he was ranked the number 22 prospect in the Padres farm system. He has been very impressive in his early starts this year. Similar to Luis Castillo, the scouting report on Paddack is a fastball in the 92 to 95 mph range with an outstanding changeup.
To date, Roark has been about what one would have expected after he was obtained from the Washington Nationals. He keeps his team in the game for the most part, with the occasional outlier subpar outing.
Starting Lineups
| Reds | Padres |
| 1B Joey Votto | SS Fernando Tatis |
| 3B Eugenio Suarez | 1B Eric Hosmer |
| RF Jesse Winker | 3B Manny Machado |
| LF Matt Kemp | RF Franmil Reyes |
| 2B Derek Dietrich | LF Hunter Renfroe |
| CF Scott Schebler | CF Manuel Margot |
| SS Jose Iglesias | C Austin Hedges |
| P Tanner Roark | 2B Luis Urias |
| C Tucker Barnhart | P Chris Paddack |
Out of the ordinary tonight:
- Yasiel Puig gets the night off.
- Tanner Roark bats eighth.
- Tucker Barnhart bats ninth.
When position player Billy Hamilton batted ninth in the past, the idea was to create the possibility of him leading off innings (after a pitcher batting eighth makes the final out), while minimizing the number of at-bats he would have at the top of the order. Frankly, it will be interesting to hear the rationale of batting Barnhart ninth, because he has been one of the few Reds so far who has hit close to his career numbers.
Additional insights into the statistical history of the players in today’s game is available all season long at BaseballSavant.com.
News and Notes
Taylor Trammell is making a case for a promotion to Class AAA Louisville sometime this summer:
Reds No. 2 prospect Taylor Trammell launched his third homer last night for the @ChattLookouts. He’s slashing .351/.500/.622 and has recorded an RBI in eight of his 11 games. #RedsMiLB pic.twitter.com/ALlIJOV1T9
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 18, 2019
This may surpass Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak or Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played as the most elusive milestone for any future major leaguer to achieve:
One of the most amazing streaks ended yesterday as Joey Votto popped out to the first baseman for the FIRST time ever in his 13 year career.@Reds #sportsdesign #SMsports pic.twitter.com/LyOLFRQri2
— JC.Designs (@JeremyCaloDsgn) April 18, 2019
Nice looks like they might score one run again.
Game will be over early.Give Bell credit because he is trying everything.Seven hits over the last two games is well just awful.Just doesn’t appear they are ready to play mentally or physically and I am not sure even if that is true but how can a whole team hit less then 200 after 17 games.
Preller started out with some horrendous deals while trying to immediately build a winner. They pivoted quickly though and got good value for some pieces by focusing on ceiling rather than how close they were to contributing to the majors. Then they plowed a ton of money into international signings one year. Basically all things the Reds failed at when rebuilding.
Nice start for Taylor Trammell! Can’t wait til he joins the Reds in 2025!
Nice 🙂
More like 2028!
It looks like the Reds get there hits in 1 or 2 games then go 3, 4 or 5 without. As for Trammell I think he has to stay down 3 more years until he’s 24, I think it’s a REDS rule
Homer Bailey now 2-1 for Kansas City. He pitched 6 innings and allowed one run as the Royals defeat the Yankees, 6-1.
Did that extra batting practice yesterday pay off for Joey?
Nice response to his first infield pop up!! GOAT!
When you say their “rebuild” is a light year ahead of the Reds, I think we need to remind you that San Diego hasn’t had a winning season since 2010.
They have some exciting players but let’s not get crazy…they started hot against a much weaker schedule than the Reds have faced. We’ll see how things look by the end of the season.
Was that a 3 pitch half inning? I wasn’t totally paying attention but pretty sure it was — never seen that before.
I thought it went hit, DP, fly out – all on first pitches.
It shouldn’t be long before Winker and Schebler are replaced with Ervin and Senzel.
Why Duke? No, no…
Bob Steve! Can he finish things out for the rest of the game?
Duke’s seat should be getting a bit warm now.
I thought when we signed Derek Johnson that it would have a huge effect on our season. I have seen nothing to change my mind. Of all the moves we made, this was the most important. After all the years of watching Bob Steve struggle mightily, we are now seeing the talent show itself.