If you had plans last night and missed the Cincinnati Reds game, or simply boycotted it after a 2-touchdown loss on Thursday night, you missed a good one that saw the Reds beat up on the Brewers. Part of that beat down was three home runs from outfielder Jesse Winker. Let’s take a look back.
Home Run #1
The Pitch: Cutter (Adrian Houser – 88 MPH)
The Exit Velocity: 108.5 MPH
The Distance: 431 Feet
Home Run #2
The Pitch: Change Up (Adrian Houser – 88 MPH)
The Exit Velocity: 108.6 MPH
The Distance: 396 Feet
Home Run #3
The Pitch: Cutter (Josh Lindblom – 88 MPH)
The Exit Velocity: 106.3 MPH
The Distance: 367 Feet
It was a good day to be Jesse Winker. It was not a good day to be a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher throwing pitches at 88 MPH to Jesse Winker.
The hometown faithful wanted a curtain call and they most certainly got one. There were some MVP chants going on in the ballpark, too. While it’s certainly too early to be having real conversations about who should and shouldn’t be the MVP – it’s still May, after all – Jesse Winker is having a heck of a season right now.
Who leads the National League in batting average? Jesse Winker does with a .356 mark. Who leads the National League in slugging percentage? Jesse Winker does with a .664 mark. He’s also leading the National League in OPS at 1.081. If you’re trying to keep track at home he’s third in home runs with 11. He is also third in on-base percentage at .416 and fourth in runs scored.
Who could start for Wade Miley?
It’s likely that the Cincinnati Reds are going to need someone to make a spot start for Wade Miley after he was placed on the 10-day injured list on Friday. An off day next week helps them out a little bit in picking anyone they’d like to come up and make the start rather than only having options available of who is available to pitch on that day. And when you look down to Triple-A there are two guys on the 40-man roster that are pitching well for the Louisville Bats to pick from.
Tony Santillan has made three starts for Louisville this season and allowed just one earned run in his 14.0 innings (0.64 ERA). He’s given up just nine hits, walked four batters, and he’s struck out 20 of the 55 hitters that he’s faced (36%). In his last outing the Reds eased the restrictions on his pitch count and he threw 88 pitches in 6.0 shutout innings against Memphis (he had previously thrown 64 and 76 pitches in his first two starts).
Vladimir Gutierrez hasn’t quite pitched as well, but he’s been quite good, too. He’s also made three starts so far this season and he’s allowed five earned runs in 17.0 innings (2.65 ERA). He’s given up just nine hits – but three home runs – to go along with seven walks and he’s struck out 21 of the 67 hitters he’s faced (31%).
Before the game on Friday David Bell was asked if Tejay Antone was a possible option for a spot start in this specific scenario and the answer was a bit complicated.
If it’s one spot start, I don’t really mind Antone staying in the bullpen in favor of calling up Gutierrez or Santillan (I’d do it differently, but yeah).
Still, hearing this just gives me a lot of “Tejay is dominant in the bullpen” vibes as to why he’ll never actually start. pic.twitter.com/iQAXNZ5Tu9
— Doug Gray is fully vaccinated (@dougdirt24) May 21, 2021
We’re all going to have to wait and see what happens, but it sounds like it’s going to be one of the minor leaguers and not Tejay Antone that ultimately gets the spot start for the Reds at some point before Wade Miley returns.
Seems like Antone is going down the Lorenzen road. Wants to start and team keeps making excuses why he cant. Hopefully it wont take 5? Years until he gets a chance like Lorenzen. Castellini needs to sign Winker now to an extension before the price gets over his budget.
Lorenzen came up starting didn’t he?
And reds fans could also equally be chanting MVP tonight for Castellanos.
Quite a 1/2 combo coming from opposite sides of the plate.
Call them the Brash Brothers. Both have fun , both play with passion and both compete their tails off every game.
I agree about the Winker/Castellanos combo. Now if we could get a couple of other hitters going. Yes I’m talking to you Eugenia. Tremendous opportunity last night with the bases loaded an he pops up.
Not to pile on but that at bat was a microcosm of his approach the last few years- chase the home run always. He used to walk at a good rate and give you a quality at bat and hit the ball hard to cf and Right center.
His problems really are approach. He needs to focus first on plate discipline. Then second on hitting the ball hard wherever its pitched- that might mean only a single over the 2b head.
Winker and Castellanos hit the ball hard and hit it hard to all fields.
The Reds clean up hitter is ranked 154th in the league in hitting (last) with a .154 average.
Hey, Doug, I was noticing this morning that HR’s 1 & 3 landed about 5 feet from each other. Since it was out past the 404 sign in right center, I’m pretty sure that the 367 distance is incorrect. Just a heads up and thank for the great site to all here at RLN.
No brainer, Antone should be a starter. I’m sure Gerritt Cole can be dominant in the bullpen, but that doesn’t mean he should be the closer. Julio Urias is a starter, but was dominant in the Dodgers WS run last year.
Doug-
Great review of a fun night for Da Wink
Hunter Greene starts tonight for Chattanooga. Assuming Greene’s start tonight measures up to his first 3 pf 2021 and it is only 1 start in place of Miley, why not the nuclear option to see how Greene plays at MLB and get him a taste what the task ahead of him is in terms of preparation?
Yep, they’d need to clear a 40 man spot for him; but. looking at the ranks that seems hardly a risk. As far as burning his option to send him back down after the start, if they need any more than the one for next year (still leaving the 3rd), there are problems more serious than his option status.
So wise Jim.
Let’s do this!