Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Senzel unfortunately saw his 2019 season come to an end earlier than expected when he injured his shoulder in early September. The injury wound up being more serious than initially expected and required surgery.
On Friday night at Redsfest, Senzel joined local sports radio host Lance McAlister, along with new signee Mike Moustakas. McAlister asked Senzel about the injury and where he was at in his recovery.
It feels really good. It was something I had to get done. It’d been going on for a long time. I’m looking to start swinging and throwing the second week of January. So I’m on track to be ready for opening day. I’m excited with the progress I’ve made, it’s good. They’re happy with it, which makes me happy too, so I’m just going to keep working at it.
There’s one thing that sticks out from that part of the interview: It’d been going on for a long time. Now, as the person who wasn’t conducting the interview, there wasn’t an opportunity to follow up on that. But it certainly stood out to me.
You can listen to the entire interview with Senzel and Moustakas at this link. There’s also many other clips from McAlister’s interviews with other players, coaches, and former players available.
Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about Senzel on Friday night, and he had an additional piece of interesting information on his shoulder and the surgery.
It’s something I pondered not doing, not getting the surgery, but when I think back, I’m glad I did because it was just going to get worse
There’s a lot more in the article from Nightengale, so you should be sure to go read it. But there’s certainly some interesting quotes from the Cincinnati Reds center fielder about what was happening last season with regards to his shoulder. It begs the question of not only how long was the shoulder nagging at Senzel, but did it keep his hitting from being what it could be?
Perhaps we will find out more on this Saturday. But for now what we do know that things are going well in his rehab, and that he’s on schedule to return in time for the start of the spring.
The current OF situation certainly offers up a lot of questions without clear cut answers. All three spots and all four incumbent outfielders carry question marks with either health, performance, or both.
As much hype as Senzel’s arrival had, his actual production left something to be desired. Compared to other highly rated and hyped prospects Jay Bruce and Joey Votto, Senzel’s production in his initial season falls short. Bruce, as a 21 year old in 108 games during his rookie year, put up a 97 OPS+ compared to Senzel’s (age 24) 89 OPS+ in 104 games. Votto doesn’t have a comparable sample size (24 games in 2007 then 151 in 2008) but he produced 127, 125 OPS+ during those initial years as a 23 and 24 year old. In fact, as down as Votto’s 2019 was with a 98 OPS+, Senzel’s 89 OPS+ was much closer to Iglesias’ 85 OPS+. Obviously age is factored favorably on Seznel’s side, and Votto’s is a reason for concerning trend, but the juxtaposition on how their seasons are discussed is interesting when looking at their production and not projection.
Hopefully Senzel’s shoulder was a major contributor to somewhat disappointing results and we’ll see a reinvigorated version, the one who was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball.
One of the things that Senzel said in his interview was that he was going back to his old batting stance, evidently he was not happy with the changes that Ward made with his approach. That may have factored into Ward not being asked back.
Hope his shoulder surgery goes better than Scheblers!
In Other News…Joey Votto said he will start hitting in May this year. This is after his customary April of talking walks and called third strikes. In all seriousness, I’m glad Nick is on track and doing well.
Yep. Almost certain that they will use the 26th spot on a CF backup that can pinch-run as well. Especially with Farmer being able to hold down 3rd catcher duties.
If they are going to make a big trade like that, I’d prefer they go after Lindor. And then splash enough money to give him a long-term deal.
Doofus,
Boston is going to ask an Arm and a leg for Betts.
Both will cost a ton.
I do not think Lindor will be much more in terms of talent.
Also, 2 years of Lindor will cost less then 1 year of Betts is terms of cash.
No, cost too much for 1 year.
Lindor would have too years, and also cost an arm and a leg.
Lindor also is a SS, and huge need.
I think nick rebounds this year, having basically learned CF.
If there was anything wrong with his shoulder, especially something that required surgery or was a good idea to have surgery, it definitely affected his at-bats.
It begs the question, WTF is wrong with the training staff and paying attention to the team’s #1?
Have there been any actual or planned upgrading of the outfield wall padding. It does not make sense to pay these outfielders so much while neglecting inevitable source of injury!
I’m not encouraged by the way the Reds have used Senzel since he came up since he’s been blocked from playing his natural position in the infield. And it’s not going to get any better with the acquisition of Moustakas. Unless things change, the outfield looks unsettled for 2020.