The Cincinnati Reds have activated Wil Myers from the injured list. The outfielder/first baseman went on the injured list and missed the last eight games. He re-joined the team on Friday when the Reds returned from their road trip, but he wasn’t quite ready to be activated yet. He told Mark Sheldon of Reds.com that he was hopeful he could be back in the lineup on Saturday. He is and will be in right field and batting 7th.
Wil Myers was the big acquisition by the Cincinnati Reds this past offseason. He’s gotten out to a slow start this year. In his first 23 games played he’s hit just .222 with a .292 on-base percentage to go along with a .321 slugging percentage. His walk rate is up a little bit from last year, but a little below his career rate. His strikeout rate is currently the highest of his career. The power output is the second lowest of his career.
In 2022 he got out to a slow start before turning things around. Through the end of May in 2022 he was hitting .234/.276/.306. He went on the injured list on June 1st and then missed the next two months. When Myers returned on August 1st he went 1-3 and didn’t look back, hitting .285/.349/.482 the rest of the season for the Padres.
The other side of the transaction for the Reds today is that Matt Reynolds has been designated for assignment. He had spent most of the season in Triple-A where he hit .263/.364/.544 for the Bats in 16 games. He was called up when Myers went on the injured list and played in just two games for the Reds, going 1-5 with a run scored.
Reynolds is out of options. That meant that he has to be designated for assignment with his removal from the 26-man roster. If he clears waivers he will have the choice to decline his assignment to the minor leagues and become a free agent if he chooses.
Hoping that both Myers and Stephenson will find their hitting stride, the team needs them badly. With Steer, India, Senzel, Fraley and Friedl going more or less as expected, the next step will be to call up McLain and CES to replace any of Fairchild, Ramos or Newman.
Myers is back. Let’s hope it matters. It hasn’t particularly so far. That $7M+ on another starter may turn out to have been better spent.
100%, but I still expect Myers to turn it around somewhat. I think the team’s power numbers will approve across the board once the summer heat rolls in.
“I think the team’s power numbers will approve across the board once the summer heat rolls in.”
…and McLain, CES, EDLC, etc. get here. 😉
Bet 🙂
Interesting development. I thought Ramos would be the one to go and Bell would get to keep Reynolds in his shuffle board.
But maybe that was just one to many players to switch around constantly, even for Bell.
With Senzel getting comfortable at 3rd and Steer playing a lot of 1B it will be interesting to see how Bell responds.
Has Steer’s drop off at the plate coincided with his switch to first, or just a coincidence?
Having the switch hitting Ramos off the bench could prove to be a good thing.
At least until JV returns. Then something will have to give.
I’m starting to enjoy Senzel at 3b and Friedl in CF.
Harry, I could have written that myself. We all wonder but I have a hard time believing Steer’s switch to 1st base has caused his slump. He just doesn’t seem like a guy with a huge upside. The team has enough outfielders, no need for Senzel to play CF anymore. I was at the game last night and Nick almost tied the game in the 9th.
Looking at his stats over his time in the MLs, his hitting at 3B hovers around .300. He loses .100+ when playing first. That pattern held last year and thus far this
You are correct LDS, but Steer is going to have to navigate playing 3b and 1b and DH and even perhaps OF. Senzel is the better 3b right now but Steer is still getting every day at bats. I think the bigger issue was the 3 day knee tweak and not the 3b/1b issue but you got EDLC and McLain and Marte just hit a walk off in AA last night all pushing forward. Reds moved Marte to 3b so I doubt Steer is the every day 3b in 2025. He certainly need reps there now though and is an important piece moving forward. He just needs to hit right now and shut out the other noise.
His hitting was going down before he moved to 1B, and even if it were true, he was not fielding well at 3B, and Senzel is. Steer might need to look to the OF over the offseason, the infield is going to be too competitive for him to hold a spot.
@old you beat me to it.
Marte, EDLC, McLain, and CES is my best guess for an infield in 25. India, Steer, Barrero, might all become OF, or trade bait. Don’t forget Arroyo might be looking for a spot sometime in 25. Collier probably by 26.
You guys are getting ahead of yourselves. These guys are prospects. Banking on ML success for all of them is overly optimistic. I’m not convinced EDLC is a long term SS
Yeah, eventually he’s going to have to retire.
@ MBS- Reds got some good infield options and only thing that keeps me interested. I like Steer a lot. Newman and second and third catchers punting Stephenson off catching 60% of the time and no big time jay Bruce outfield prospects are the issue now.
Maybe we get lucky and get a college OF in the draft, and he’s able to help by 25. Like I said lucky, really I’d really like Max Clark to fall to us, but I doubt that will happen.
Which he is retiring Doug?
@MBS Any of the top five falling would be a windfall for the Reds.
Am I the only one around here that thought they promoted Reynolds just because he was a guy they could DFA and not lose much? I figured that was obvious personally, maybe not to many around here though.
Senzel has cemented himself at third for the time being, it should be his job to lose.
This is good news for McLain (spot on the 40-man freed up), bad news for CES (Myers adds to the 1B options).
Brandon Drury spoiled the Reds FO. His resurgence last season, and subsequent deadline trade value must have gotten into their head that they can and should find similar flip candidates every year. It’s the only reason I can think of as to why we have seen so much of Myers and Newman. And they’ll probably continue to be showcased until they have performed enough to flip or they fail enough to abandon. Jury still out on what kind of time frame that will be, but hopefully Myers can get hot and go out the door for a relief pitching prospect or something.
Well Myers is only 32 and had a road ops last year over .800. Petco to GABP would give him a shot to hit 25+ hrs in theory. For 7.5 mil not a bad risk. Compared to Minors $10 mil it’s a winning lottery ticket
Agree. I didn’t really mind the Myers signing. Seemed like a good candidate to be a rebound then flip guy. Also provided some OF cover from the right side.
Not sure what he’d be rebounding from, he’s been a solid but unspectacular offensive player for years now.
Who is Myers even blocking? Ramos? This organization is not flush with outfielders.
Myers likely to be gone in 3 months.
Not unless he gets a little closer to the plate and actually starts producing.