The Cincinnati Reds announced that second baseman Scooter Gennett should avoid going on the injured list after exiting Wednesday night’s game with left groin tightness. They also noted that Gennett could possibly return on Saturday. He was given the day off on Thursday, and with the off day today for the Reds 150th Anniversary Celebration, that would give him two full days of rest.
The Cleveland Indians come to town for a 2-game series on Saturday. They will be running out two pretty good pitchers in Shane Bieber, who was just named to the All-Star team, and Trevor Bauer. Both of them, however, are right-handed pitchers. That should play into the hands of Scooter Gennett, who has handled right-handed pitchers much better throughout his career.
All-Star Weekend
While the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians are playing a weekend series in Cincinnati, the Indians home field will be getting ready for the All-Star weekend. The marquee event of the weekend will be The Futures Game, which will take place on Sunday evening.
Cincinnati Reds top prospect Taylor Trammell will be the only representative at the game from the organization. The outfielder will be making his second straight trip to The Futures Game. Last season he took home the MVP Award for Team USA after hitting a home run and a triple.
The game will be available to watch on MLB Network and MLB.com at 7pm on Sunday night. The game has a few changes this year, though. First, Team USA vs. Team World is no more. It will now be National League vs American League. The other change, and it’s a big one, is that the game will only be a 7-inning contest.
One benefit of the changes this year is that the prospects will be in front of more of a national audience. In the past the Futures Game was on in the afternoon up against an entire slate of Major League games. Now the game will be on it’s own and fans don’t have to choose between watching this event or their favorite team play a game that matters. But shortening the game stinks as it gives players fewer chances to not only get action, but some to even get in the game.
Why not 9 innings? It’s not as though anyone has to play more than a few innings, and with a shorter game we’ll either see fewer up and coming players, or less of the players who do get in the game. Either way, seems like a really short sighted change… sigh.
As for Scooter – if he skips the weekend he could have 6 extra days to heal. Seems like an unnecessary risk. And it’s not like he’s been hitting and contributing yet – why not get him fully recovered? I’m just hoping that the only reason he might play is that he is truly 100% fine.
What’s the rush? Give Gennett a week off to fully recover. Peraza can cover second for the next two games.
Agree on Gennett, not on Peraza. I’d rather see Dietrich, Josh VanMeter, or even Kyle Farmer at 2nd before Peraza.
And so did a whole lot of commenters on this site, though I notice they are eerily silent now that he is back and ripping the cover off the ball at a .105 clip.
I’m not eerily silent. He deserves time to get himself back if he’s ready. If he’s not ready he shouldn’t be out there. I think he deserves the chance based on what he’s done in the past but without question he’s one of the most under appreciated player I can remember especially here.
That’s exactly what I would do as well.This dude has tore it up in Louisville and looked like a big league hitter when he was up here before.Reds always call guys up,send them out for coffee and doughnuts and then wonder why they don’t perform in a pinch hitting roll against the other teams closer a week after they get here.Dodgers brought a kid up and boom he wins a game for them.Cards brought a kid up I think it is Edman and boom he wins two games late for them against the Mariners just this week.Guys that play every day in the minors struggle as bench pieces in the majors.Van Meter could be the next Scooter at a fraction of the cost but of course we will never find out.Scooter was rushed back from his minor league re hab stint.He wasn’t ready and he was stuck right in to the 4th spot and well all of us could see he wasn’t ready.Now he has the other groin to worry about and we read he could return today.Just silly in my opinion.
I keep hearing how bad Trammell has been playing and I’m not buying it. Yes, he’s only hitting .245 but his OBP is .374. His power has dipped some but the league as a whole is pitcher friendly. Not exactly setting AA on fire but still having a decent season against competition that is on average 2.7 years older than him.
Bugs me he’s hitting cleanup while looking overmatched too. Why didn’t they sort of ease him in?