The Cincinnati Reds didn’t hit a home run for more than a week, but when they finally got one it was huge. Nick Senzel came through with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th for a walk-off win that also gave the Reds a 3-game sweep of the Texas Rangers at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Rangers (14-10) | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (10-15) |
5 | 7 | 0 |
| W: Sims (1-0) L: Hernandez (0-1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
After a quick and quiet 1st inning for Graham Ashcraft he got himself into some trouble in the 2nd. Adolis Garcia lined a single into center, but Ashcraft then hit Josh Jung and walked Jonah Heim to load the bases with no outs. Derek Johnson made a trip to the mound to discuss things with Ashcraft. Whatever he said must have worked as the righty got a pop up, strikeout, and a ground out to strand all three runners.
After escaping a big time jam in the top of the inning, the Reds offense went to work in the bottom half. Tyler Stephenson led off with a double. He then came around to score on a 1-out triple by Henry Ramos. Kevin Newman followed up with a grounder to third base, and Ramos broke for the plate and beat the throw home to make it 2-0.
In the 4th inning the Reds offense went back to it, trying to get something going with one out. Tyler Stephenson would draw a walk and Jake Fraley singled. Henry Ramos grounded into what was originally called a double play, but after review he beat the throw to first and the inning continued with runners on the corners for Kevin Newman. It wasn’t meant to be as Newman grounded out to end the inning.
The Texas Rangers got on the board in the top of the 5th inning after a 1-out walk was followed by a single and a double. A sacrifice fly would follow up to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the inning the Reds would get one of those runs back after Nick Senzel singled, moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt, then stole third base before scoring on a sacrifice fly by TJ Friedl.
Alex Young pitched a scoreless 7th and came out for the 8th inning and retired the first batter before giving way to Ian Gibaut. He completed the inning and kept the Reds up 3-2. But when Gibaut returned for the 9th inning he allowed the first two batters to reach before being replaced by Lucas Sims. With runners on the corners, Sims allowed a sacrifice fly that tied the game up, but he’d get out of the jam from there.
That set up Cincinnati for a chance to win the game with a run in the bottom of the 9th. Kevin Newman led off with a single, though it probably should have been ruled an error and he moved up to second base when the throw from Josh Smith went past the first baseman and out of play. It wouldn’t matter much because Nick Senzel came through with a walk-off home run to complete the sweep and give the Reds three wins in a row.
Key Moment of the Game
Nick Senzel’s walk-off home run.
Notes Worth Noting
Nick Senzel has five hits in his last two games.
Henry Ramos is taking advantage of his second run in the big leagues and is hitting .364 since being called up.
Alex Young lowered his ERA to 0.79 on the year. He has 2 walks and 16 strikeouts on the season in 11.1 innings.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Oakland Athletics
Friday April 28th, 9:40pm ET
Luis Cessa (0-3, 10.80 ERA) vs TBA
Sweeps are extra sweet when they come along with that voodoo busting HR!
A little over 10K in the house, including our own Votto4Life. Looking forward to hearing his first-hand report.
Onward to Oakland and the Vegas Ace-theltics!
Don’t forget about that triple by Henry Ramos the new offensive machine for the Reds!
Thanks Mark! I don’t know I have a lot to report since, with my current eyesight, I pretty much just follow the baseball these days. I was impressed Henry Ramos, he stings the ball. His triple was pretty fun o watch. Jake Fraley also plays really hard.
I moved closer to the field for the final innings. I was about 12 rows back of the Red’s dugout for Senzel’s home run. You could really see the excitement on his face (although I am sure you could see it on TV as well). I have commented before that sometimes, it seems to me, Nick Senzel is just going through the motions. This is the first time I have seen him so animated. Knowing all that he has been through, I have to admit, I had a lump in my throat seeing him do well. Hopefully, he is now on the right track.
It was a beautiful afternoon and a game like this helped remind me what I love Red’s baseball so much!
I screwed up the last sentence but I think you get the idea ?
Senzel is definitely the star of the game. Ride his hot bat as long as you can at 3B. Are you listening Mr. Bell? Bring up McLain to play CF.
Melvin it seems like such a short time ago many wanted Senzel gone. He has so much talent it’s hard to give up on him. Hope he can stay healthy and play.
Honestly I wanted him gone too at least to AAA. Don’t know how long it will last but it’s good to see it while it does.
I must admit I was ready to move on from Senzel after his slow start. I didn’t even think he liked playing. Boy, he sure was animated today. I am really happy for him. I hope he is giving a shot at third base.
Time will tell if this is an abortion, or it has finally clicked, and he is healthy.
Hope it is the latter of the two.
Yes I too hope they dont abort him!
Nothing has changed. As Doug noted in yesterday’s write up, Senzel had a 4 hit game last May. Two good games in a row doesn’t mean he’s suddenly becoming what he was touted to be. Maybe he is but I wouldn’t bet on it. So yes, trade him, move on.
Two good games in a row also doesn’t mean he hasn’t turned a corner.
No reason yet to buy more or sell on the cheap.
Glad you aren’t a financial advisor….. 😉
Now Harry, that is an optimistic viewpoint.
Happy for Senzel but not buying a career turnaround. He is not tradable at this point with 2 good games. No one is giving anything of value for him. He’s a platoon player nothing more. I hope I wrong. If anything, he deserves a start on Friday night in Oakland. I think Bell makes the lineups days in advance not based on a previous games performance. I believe he said it an interview he likes to give us players the heads up when they’ll be starting.
I doubt he’s turned into a star either. Just mean to play him while he’s hot and use him playing 3B as an excuse to bring up McLain to play CF full time. 🙂
He’s fine as a bench UT, I dont see a pressing need at all to trade him
Even before the two good games, Senzel was hitting the ball much harder. If he is turning a corner, the consistent at bats as well as the return to his natural position will have helped.
I think roster spots will be at a premium come sooner than later. That’s what has to be figured out when all of the prospects start arriving. That and making sure they play pretty much every day.
I will never understand the logic behind wanting to trade someone you don’t think is good enough to play. If he is a horrible player what exactly are you going to get in return, and if he is so bad why would another team want him. I guess you could trade him for the famous PTBNL or cash considerations, then replace him with a player making league minimum and save $1M. Unless there are teams desperately looking for a utility player in April, I don’t think trading him accomplishes much.
McClain is middle INF (2B or SS) not CF.
He’s played outfield before buddy. That would just be to get him in the lineup every day which the team desperately needs. He can always move back to the infield. I personally think that he’ll end up at 2B eventually.
58 games in college is dubious at best. Leave him in the MI or get him time in CF in AAA first.
McLain is ready but CF isn’t the solution.
Friedl is our CF, reds will have to make the tough decision and ethier move steer to LF or 1B. I give him a few weeks down and if everything goes well have him or barrero play 3b and SS. India might move later via trade or position. Trading India would mean a bad thing to the fans. All I know is Senzel deserves 2 weeks of consistent at bats to prove himself
What a finish. Best game I have attended in awhile. So happy to see Nick Senzel have some success!
Are you freakin’ kiding me? I was away from my desk here at work after the game was tied 2-2 at the end of 5 innings! Ecstatic to come back and check the score on ESPM and find the Reds had pulled another rabbit out of the hat! Woo! Hoo!
Two Things of Note: 1) The Reds BP has allowed only one (1) earned run in the last 12.1 innings! Awesome! and
2) Better keep Bochy away from sharp objects as his precious 1st place Rangers just got swept by the Reds!
Will make that flight out to Oakland a whole lot more enjoyable!
An enjoyable flight to Oakland? Is that even theoretically possible?
The Oakland airport is actually well located and convenient. The flight to Oakland will be fine. It isn’t until you get out of the airport that you realize that you can’t find the “there.”
It wasn’t much of a stadium when I saw a game there maybe 25 years ago. Mt. Davis had already been built across the outfield, and it ruined the outdoorsy feel of the location. The team and city have apparently spent about $14,000 on maintenance since then.
Their fans are good, but there aren’t quite enough of them these days, and the city didn’t want to subsidize an owner as much as Vegas will.
They are kinda like the Boston Braves or St. Louis Browns, as the B-team in a market that may not support 2 teams.
Only if you’re holding a round-trip ticket!
EDLC just turned an average double into a triple. 🙂 Abbott had a pretty decent game with five innings and two runs. McLain keeps on rolling.
CES two hits and a HR too.
I didn’t get to watch Abbott, but it looks like he was cruising until the 5th, when he gave up a 2 run HR. Still 5 IP, throwing 85 pitches with 7K’s. Not a bad 1st game at a new level. Let see him add an inning and reduce a run next game!
I wouldn’t say he was cruising, not as he has been. The Cubs weren’t biting as much on his breaking ball as AA hitter, as to be expected. and his fastball was less pinpoint. The dude who homered has been hammering this season so it’s no big deal, really. All in all he looked fine and given the need to challenge him more, it was a success.
Way to go, Reds! A great comeback; exciting baseball.
While I wish we were better than 10-15 I like some of the pieces on this team.
Starting rotation
Greene
Lodolo
Ashcraft
Bull pen
Diaz is a first rate closer.
Sims
Young
And a couple of others are showing some promise.
The young position players that are developing.
India
Steer
Stephenson
Freidl
On occasion Barrera
The minors are loaded
EDLC
CES
McClain
Just to name a few.
The other thing I like is the effort they give. They play hard and never quit and that is exciting. They enjoy playing for Bell.
My hope is management invest some of Moses and votto’s 45 mil to fill some holes. If they do we will enjoy watching.
The thing I like about our 10 – 15 start is it was against some really good teams. Going 15 – 10 over the next 25 games sounds very doable. If they can live around .500, reinforcements will be coming soon, maybe not as soon as some hope, but soon.
Moses would be huge!
Lol!!
Thou shalt not walk the first hitter coming out of the bullpen. Post that in the clubhouse. The 11th commandment.
@Old-School: Bravo! 🙂
He’d play a huge part for sure
Even though he’s only been to the burning bush league, he does have a good pick-off move, reminding runners that ‘thou shall not steal!’
And old comedy bit that I just had to share.
LOL!
That was a fun afternoon of baseball. More of this. great day for the Reds and RLN. Go Reds. Let’s take the broom and Viking gear to Oakland!
Lost in the excitement was an excellent game for Casali. Really caught well and a huge caught stealing late. He got beat up all day and hung in there.
Yeah. Good sac and a HBP with the throw out in the 8th (? Can’t remember exactly) to erase the first threat. That’s fine with the rest of the lineup hitting.
Other than Cessa’s start vs Philly and games 2 + 3 vs the Rays this team has been really fun to watch this year.
Just a handful of pieces away. When you have McLain, CES, De La Cruz, Hopkins, Abbott, Stoudt (hopefully Benson + Williamson figure things out) in AAA to go with rehabbing Votto, Antone, Santillan, Gutierrez, and Dunn and you start to see how how the reds window could open sooner than later
After the trade deadline this year give me the following roster and they’ll give any team problems
Move – Myers, Newman, Cessa, Maile, Farmer at the deadline. I’m actually liking the idea of trying to get Weaver back on another 1-2 year deal as an emergency starter/ long man in the bullpen.
C – Stephenson
1B – Votto
2B – India
SS – McLain
3B – Steer
LF – Fraley
CF – Friedl
RF – De La Cruz
DH – CES
B – Casali – C
B – Senzel – 3B/OF
B – Barrero – SS/OF
B – Hopkins/Benson/Fairchild/Ramos – OF
SP – Greene
SP – Lodolo
SP – Ashcraft
SP – Abbott
SP – Weaver
(Dunn, Stoudt, Williamson, Anderson, Gutierrez in AAA)
CP – Diaz
RP – Sims
RP – Santillan
RP – Gibaut
RP – Young
RP – Legumina
RP – Antone
RP – Sanmartin, Cruz, or Law
Weaver + Votto’s option would be the only 2 on that roster who would potentially not be on next years roster as well.
I was with you until you had Votto at first. Sadly, I think that ship has sailed.
Sadly, yes! Not only has that ship sailed, I’m afraid it is lost at sea!
Keep Cessa and return him to the bullpen, unless someone makes an offer you cannot refuse.
That’s the team I’m excited for
Opening day 24 CES is at 1B. Opens up another roster spot for one of the aforementioned OFers
.
Marte pushes his way into conversation at some point hopefully
CES/Steer/Marte sort out 1B/3B/DH
Marte better push his name into the conversation at some point. He cost us a pretty good pitcher!
nice power and decent defense on the infield, Marte will make it at some point for sure
Why are you so sure McClain can hit MLB pitching?
SS is Barrero’s to lose, and he has done nothing to lose it.
My advice is move India back to his natural position at 3B, put McClain at 2B, CES at 1B, and Steer is DH.
I also think it’s foolish to expect anything from Antone at this point. If he can contribute, great, but it will all be on borrowed time.
Its not a stretch to think someone can do more from the SS position than Barrero, he’s been fine so far but far from a sure thing there. Would really like to see better defense than I’ve seen so far before I’m willing to cement him there, and of course want more from his bat.
Nothing to lose it other than hit .178 over 342 ABs?
I’m all for giving players their shot and not buying into small samples, but even this season where seemingly so many people are so excited about what great improvements he’s made at the plate, he’s still only hitting .217
Bottom line, if he’s going to be “the” guy at SS, he simply has to hit better. If he doesn’t, next player up
Barrero deserves a full, healthy season of consistent playing time before you pass judgement on him. He has not gotten that yet, and this is his season to finally show of he can hack it in MLB or not.
To give up on him before April is even over is just bonkers.
CI3J – They haven’t given up on Senzel all this time. One could argue Barrero has more talent than Senzel.
CI3J sure, but that can happen and everything Bdh said and I said about McClain playing SS still be true on opening day 2024
Cozart was tough before becoming an all start.
He was originally a bottom of the order guy.
Barreo has waaay more potential
Grand Salami very true, and hopefully Barrero shows it. That’d be a good problem to have
Cozart situation was a bit different. He didn’t have anyone like McClain or EDLC pushing him and they traded Gregorius as part of the Choo package
Not saying I wish he would but I am wondering if India doesn’t gets traded. We could get a decent haul for him, (a good power hitting outfielder?) and Mclain could play 2B and keep EDLC at his natural SS position. With EDLC talent hate to see us mess with him and stick him in the OF al la Senzel. We are wasting the natural gift of GABP by not having anyone with any serious power. Anyway just spitballin.
Please dear God no. India is the sparkplug on this team and needs to be signed long term. This PtbNL stuff is for the birds. Take a look at Myers. This guy is lost seems lost and the only way he hits is if the pitcher makes a mistake on the inside part of the plate. Stick with OUR kids.
All six of ELDC’s games with Louisville have been at SS. It doesn’t look like he’s being prepped for a move to the outfield. In contrast, Barrero has played six games for the Reds in CF, including three starts.
While anyone should be available for a trade if the return is right, I don’t see the Reds looking to move core players until more prospects have established themselves at the MLB level. Also, unless an unusual market need develops for 2B/3B, India doesn’t play a position that normally entices huge trade returns.
Well, Texas is going to be looking for some bullpen help. I think a lot of teams are going to be salivating to pickup Díaz, Young. It would be nice to hang onto them but how deep would the reds be if they can latch onto a couple more phenoms.
In my opinion, the time for trading away good players is past. It is now time to let things sort out on which young guys are part of the future core. Players at positions where we have a log jam of young talent (middle infielders) should be used to trade for talent in positions we are lacking (OF, P, C). Also, sign some quality free agents to fill some gaps (OF, P, C) in the coming years.
The time for trading good players better be over. There were 10,000 tickets sold today. The Reds better add to the roster, if they want to keep baseball alive in this market. It is on life support right now.
Could we talking about a resilient team? The Reds sweep the Rangers (ALWD 1st place) after been swept by Pirates in four games series where the team looked dead.
I expected this homer was going to appear in a huge moment that’s baseball…
Reds BP had a really pretty good series.
Now a day-off before to face the struggling A’s who are 2-10 at Oakland. Off course, a sweep would be fantastic but taking 2 games even might be very good.
Really happy about today’s win and this sweep was so badly needed after the Pittsburgh series debacle. Man, Oakland is thinking the same thing awaiting the Reds arrival and expecting their get well series. Being realistic, the Reds aren’t a good team. They have many flaws – 4th and 5th starting pitchers, a few bullpen arms, lack of a slugger in the middle of the lineup, poor defense at a few key positions, depending on a lot of young players / retread veterans. Need I go on? Deep down, we all know this on RLN. I wish the best for the man but Senzel is not going to turn into an all star. This is a 70-75 win team if they get the breaks and some production from guys like Stoudt, CES, EDLC, and McClain. Bad injury luck and poor management = 100+ losses.
You don’t seem so happy after the first sentence.
Nah, that was reply to Redsgettingbetter concerning the Oakland series. I can’t name more than a couple of players on Oakland’s team. But opposing teams are probably drooling over the prospects of facing the Reds. Just hoping the team can be competitive while rebuilding and hoping beyond hope to at least avoid 100 losses again. I will be more excited to see the young players get to the bigs but there are quite a few players who are not going to be a part of the next winning team. I am happy for Senzel, Newman, Barrero, Myers, Buck Farmer, Weaver, Cessa, etc when they can contribute to a win but I think they are part of that group. I think the team can contend for a wildcard spot next season and some of these players will likely still be on the team, just not huge contributors. If they are regular starters, then very little chance of a playoff berth in 2024.
this just in…Dirty Birds in last place in the NL central for now and Jordan Walker going back to AAA. Hitting coaches working on his stance and posture. Let’s pump the brakes on EDLC.
I think the look on Nick Senzel’s face about said it all, after he hit that HR to win the game.
The guy has probably been under a lot of pressure to achieve and live up to his draft, etc. I just hope it continues. One of the great things about baseball is the human drama about the players, and how they struggle and overcome.
The difference between the Rangers and the Pirates is that the Pirates seem to have both good starting pitching and a pretty good bullpen. The Rangers bullpen lost all three games. Perez last night was pretty untouchable, but his relief blew it.
I think we have to re-calibrate what we think of teams around the league. The Pirates now seem to be a pretty good team. The Mighty Cardinals seem to be falling on their faces…..but…..it’s early. April isn’t even over yet.
The 1975 Reds were playing 0.500 ball (or thereabouts) after the first 40 games. Then they won 88 out of the next 120 games….or something like that.
I think it was 41 out of 50.
Well, that too. 😉
But after 40 games, they were around .500, something like 21-20 or 20-20…trying to recall. Sparky was ticked at the slow start. Moved John Vuckovich off of third (he couldn’t hit!), moved Pete to third, and put George into Left Field. I think George at one time had 10 homers and 20 rbi’s, batting 7th or 8th for a while. They ended the season with 108 victories…total.
Which means they went on a tear the rest of the season. Don Gullet would have won 25 games if he hadn’t broken his finger trying to catch a line-drive back through the middle, in a game that was already won, with his bare hand. Missed 8 weeks, and still won 16 games.
Yeah, that was some team.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1975-schedule-scores.shtml you can look it up.
1975 Reds had four HOF caliber players (two others close) and good starting rotation with four excellent bullpen pitchers and HOF manager.
2023 Reds have none of those except MAYBE the first three starters.
“Yeah, that was some team”
Yeah it sure was David. An argument can be made that it was the best of all time.
No, the 1975 Reds’ pitching staff really wasn’t all that good. Their rotation included two good pitchers, Gary Nolan and Don Gullett. Nolan, though, only struck out 3.2 batters per 9 innings, and he had missed almost all of 1973 and all of 1974. He had become a control pitcher, going wholly on guile. Gullett was Gullett, but even he only struck out 5.2/9IP, and his FIP was .92 higher than his ERA. He also made only 22 starts; he was injured from mid-June to mid-August, and his ERA after he came back was 1.12 higher than the first half.
The other starters with 19+ starts were Billingham, Fredie Norman, Pat Darcy and Clay Kirby. These guys weren’t terrible, but they were all innings-eaters who were average at best. Darcy had the top ERA+ at 101; Billingham was at 88. The bullpen was stellar for the era, but it was used completely differently than it is now — Eastwick, Borbon, Carroll and McEnaney all pitched 90+ innings, and only Eastwick (at 6.1) struck out more than 4.7/9IP.
The 1975 team won with overwhelming offense and Hall of Fame-level defense up the middle. (And Sparky.) Pitching was a sidebar. Every starting pitcher and the four bullpen mainstays had a FIP higher than his actual ERA, as a credit to the defense.
This year’s Reds have a better top three in the rotation. On the offensive side, it is hard to identify a current Red who would get much playing time for the ’75 team. Maybe India and Friedl as the first guys off the bench, and Stephenson is certainly better than was Bill Plummer.
They moved Rose to 3B and Foster to LF in May.
And they never looked back! Thank you George (Sparky) Anderson! May you rest in peace on that big baseball diamond in heaven!
Yet people whine around here about Bell moving guys around
“Yet people whine around here about Bell moving guys around”
Haha I don’t think that’s quite the same thing.
And yet not that different. That team actually had good players, therefore much less movement.
That team had GREAT players. Bench, Perez and Morgan went into the Hall of Fame. Rose would be there but….well, Pete (eyeroll).
Ken Griffey just missed winning the batting title that year.
Who can forget Rawlins J. Eastwick, III. 😉
A lot of “WAR” on that team, let me tell you.
haha That was just a one time move in order to get Foster in the lineup every day. Sparky didn’t move guys around. lol Bench did play other spots to keep his bat in the lineup. There was no DH then of course.
Rose moved around the field constantly under Sparky. Obviously they arent the same and I’m trying to be provacative but just sayin’.
Yeah. Rose was the exception to a lot of things good AND bad. lol
He’s the only player to start in the All Star game at five different positions.
With a day off tomorrow, why can’t we skip Cessa this time through and start Greene on Friday night with four days of rest?
+1,000!
Because why bother? That the back-end of the rotation is bad doesnt mean we should be pitching our best guys into the ground, I want them healthy all year.
Yes
If he stays on the same schedule and it just means Cessa missing a start then I’m all for it. The key is keeping Greene on his usual schedule.
The key is no injuries, an extra day in april sounds great to me. I’d rather they waited until the end of the year to do this kind of stuff.
That’s the idea of staying on schedule. I believe he said in a post game interview that he wasn’t due to pitch again until Sunday anyway for whatever reason.
If Cessa can give the team 5 innings and 3 runs allowed, that is good enough. Hitters need to step up. People are talking about Oakland having a legit shot at the 1962 Mets record of 120 losses and they don’t do that with a stellar pitching staff. Oakland is a tough place to homer so need to string hits together.
I disagree with the notion that keeping them on a specific schedule is helpful for injuries, especially since there are a lot of off-days coming up you can say the same thing for. I’d be more concerned giving Cessa a week off would contribute to an injury for him, plus why would he want to have his schedule disrupted?
Mostly I see no pressing need to get cute like this in April, pitchers should be expected and able to allow an extra day of rest every now and again.
Last year through 25 games the Reds were 3-22. This year they are 10-15. I wouild not call 10-15 a great start by any means but it looks pretty good compared to 3-22.
And everyone trying to complain about the team before the year think they were a better team at the beginning of the year. Once again simply letting things play out and not make sweeping judgements works out.
Really big 3 game sweep moon.
Hopefully they build on this momentum in Oakland
Agree, it keeps them in the game. They are even out of the basement in the standings for now
Awesome, but seriously did you see how strong Kevin Newman played SS? His defense was marvelous and he got an RBI, too.
Newman had a great game, absolutely! I’d still rather him mainly start against lefties though.
However, dumping him (as several has suggested) seems ridiculous.
Rooting for former Reds pitcher “Disco” in his start against The Dirty Birds later in San Francisco tonight!
Yes! Go Disco
Ashcraft’s record remains at 2-0 after today’s No Decision. His ERA drops slightly to 2.10. Time for the brilliant thinkers in the Reds FO to loosen up those purse strings and lock up Mr. Ashcraft with a contract extension of 3 to 5 years!
wouldn’t that just be buying out his arbitration years?
Correct. Because they brought up Ashcraft last season a few weeks into the season, he is a year behind Greene and Lodolo as to free-agent status.
Cautiously optimistic here….I will say I don’t remember Nick Senzel ever having back to back multiple hit games. I’m sure I am probably wrong about that. It would be HUGE for this team if Nick turns out to be even half the player he was supposed to be! Please David Bell do NOT sit Nick in the first game in Oakland! He is feeling good right now! He needs to play!
Better write him a letter and overnight it too. :)….PRIORITY…..and send some cash too….lots. 🙂
And give Senzel some stability by playing him in the infield.
My favorite part of todays win – and I loved every minute of it – is that the three biggest RLN whipping boys:
1. Put the lineup together
2. Started the 9th inning rally
3. Ended it with a walk-off HR
All of that pleases me, great win!!
+1000
Notice how The RLN whipping boys wants guys from minor leagues to be here after a good week? Because they are 19 years old?
The RLN whipping boys are 19 years old?
McLain: 23
CES: 23
EDLC: 21
Abbott: 23
Harry, please don’t insert facts into the conversation.
EDLC off to a slow start.
Had a triple today. 🙂 Most guys would have had a double on that one.
not yet. major league pitching will tear him up
Was talking about his speed buddy. 🙂
EDLC had been away from live pitching for about a month, so he’ll need another couple of weeks before the Reds can make a coherent evaluation of him. I think he would have to tear AAA up for about 3 weeks for him to be called up before the All-Star break.
McLain has pretty much done just that for 3 weeks, so he is likely 6-8 weeks ahead of EDLC. CES can apparently get out of bed and hit, so who knows what they are planning for him. I think he will make Myers fully expendable.
Awesome for Nick Senzel. That guy deserves some better luck and I prefer it in a Reds uniform. Great outings by Graham – our best pitcher – Ashcraft and Alex Young. Lets GOooooooooo!
CES is an upgrade over Steer at 1B. McClain and Hopkins show they belong as well. Then Abbott is better option than Cessa as a fifth starter. So I think that would give the Reds a fourth starter and Weaver becomes the fifth guy. Very excited about Hopkins and CES as they both have some pop in their bat as does McClain. I think McClain and CES offer more power potential than Barrero or India or Steer. There is a lot to be hopeful for in the years ahead especially if they can parlay the 40 million they will save on Votto and Moustakis in 2024 into 2-3 players including a solid BP guy and a couple of reliable bats. Consider the fact that all of the players mentioned above were first or second rounders so their production is not a real surprise.
Don’t forget about that triple by Henry Ramos the new offensive machine for the Reds!
Ramos has been a great surprise. Some people seem like natural hitters. Hope he can keep it up. Matt McLain hopefully a Dustin Pedroia type player.
Now this is funny
Cards option top prospect AAA
Last place
Hitting coach turner ward wants him to lift the ball
https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/news/jordan-walker-optioned-to-triple-a
“Hitting coach turner ward wants him to lift the ball”
Now where have a heard that before?
Sure mess up another player with “launching” the ball instead of allowing player to use his talents.
How in the h is this guy a major league hitting coach? Lift the ball, bs, level swing line drives. Truth as old as baseball.
The biggest problem with coaching hitters to “lift the ball” is implicitly making them uppercut the swing.
And this results in the bat being in the hitting zone less time than if you have a level swing.
More strikeouts, but PERHAPS more Home Runs, which I guess is the goal of a certain hitting philosophy.
Level swings through the good hitting zone (different for every player) results in more contact, and expect more hits. Fewer strikeouts.
Ted Kluzewski’s hitting philosophy, in a nut shell, was to get your hands out in front of the swing, and let them do the work. Getting your hands “out in front” basically meant clearing your hands from your body, and then using your hands and wrists to whip the bat around to make contact.
With very strong guys like Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, that resulted in hard contact and home runs. Pete Rose pretty much figured out his own hitting philosophy.
Harry Walker taught Joe Morgan a lot about hitting, and not getting careless with his left arm..keeping it away from his body (hence, Joe’s arm flap), keeping his left elbow extended, not tucked in. And this let Joe get his hands “out in front”, away from his body and be in a good hitting position.
My granddaughter is a Div. I softball player who had a very nice sophomore year that included hitting three hundred with 5 home runs. The fairly new hitting coach who has a one size fits all approach decided she should become a big-time power hitter. She has had a poor season this year but the hitting coach has stuck to his guns, so a hitting coach can be a real detriment.
Don’t worry about launch angles. Hit the ball hard and good things happen.
MK congrats on your granddaughter. Playing D-1 softball is quite an accomplishment.