The Cincinnati Reds will look to salvage something from their series against the New York Yankees on Sunday after suffering an extra-innings loss on Saturday. The Yankees have taken both games of the series so far and will be turning to one of their best pitchers over the past five years, though oft-injured, in his 2023 debut. Today’s first pitch is set for 11:35am and the game will be on the streaming service Peacock.
Starting Lineups
New York Yankees
|
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Gleyber Torres – 2B | Jonathan India – DH |
| Anthony Rizzo – 1B | Matt McLain – SS |
| DJ LeMahieu – 3B | Jake Fraley – LF |
| Willie Calhoun – DH | Spencer Steer – 1B |
| Harrison Bader – CF | Nick Senzel – 3B |
| Jake Bauers – RF | Stuart Fairchild – CF |
| Anthony Volpe – SS | Will Benson – RF |
| Isiah Kiner-Falefa – LF | Kevin Newman – 2B |
| Kyle Higashioka – C | Luke Maile – C |
| Luis Severino – RHP | Hunter Greene – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Hunter Greene | 43.0 | 4.60 | 1.58 | 17 | 59 |
| Luis Severino (2022) | 102.0 | 3.18 | 1.00 | 30 | 112 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Luis Severino’s Stats |
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Hunter Greene
It’s been an inconsistent May for Hunter Greene as he’s allowed 13 earned runs in his three starts, covering just 15.0 innings. After only giving up one home run in April he’s allowed five so far in May, and his ERA has jumped from 2.89 to 4.60 in the process.
This season it’s been right-handed hitters that have done the damage in the batters box against Greene. They are hitting .345 and slugging .598 against him this year. They are making more contact than lefties and hitting for way more power. Left-handed hitters are striking out at a very high rate against Greene and are hitting just .231 without much power. That’s been consistent through Greene’s young career in the big leagues.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 97 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 25 | .345 | .412 | .598 |
| LHH | 91 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 34 | .231 | .307 | .374 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 99.0 | 88.9 | 92.1 |
| Usage | 53% | 41% | 6% |
Luis Severino
A strained lat during spring training has kept Luis Severino out of action this season. The 2-time All-Star will be making his regular season debut this morning when he takes the mound. He made two minor league rehab starts, throwing a combined 6.2 innings.
Last season the splits for Luis Severino didn’t show a big difference. Righties and lefties had an average that was just one point apart. Right-handed hitters walked more, while left-handed hitters hit for a bit more power. Neither group did much hitter at all, though.
Splits (2022)
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 231 | 40 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 78 | .195 | .278 | .327 |
| LHH | 174 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 34 | .196 | .243 | .387 |
Pitch Usage (2022)
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 96.5 | 91.3 | 85.7 | 88.8 |
| Usage | 50% | 5% | 24% | 21% |
When and Where
- Game time: 11:35am ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Peacock
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 67°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
News and Notes
Fernando Cruz begins a rehab stint in Triple-A
The Reds sent Fernando Cruz to Triple-A to join Louisville for a rehab stint. He’s been dealing with a shoulder strain and last pitched on April 28th.
Joey Votto and the next step
David Bell said Joey Votto has another live BP today in Louisville. They’ll evaluate next steps after that.
TJ Friedl could be activated on Tuesday at the very earliest.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) May 21, 2023
Back at the bottom
With the loss on Saturday in extras, the Cincinnati Reds fell to last place (by winning percentage) in National League Central as the Cardinals have been on fire during the month and have been catching up to everyone.
Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Brewers | 24 | 21 | 0.0 | 61.7% |
| Pirates | 24 | 21 | 0.0 | 15.6% |
| Cubs | 20 | 25 | 4.0 | 15.7% |
| Cardinals | 20 | 27 | 5.0 | 42.2% |
| Reds | 19 | 26 | 5.0 | 1.3% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Are these all the current injured/rehab pitchers: Antone, Gutierrez, Santillan, Dunn, Cruz, Law, Legumina, Lodolo, Overton, Sanmartin.
Fan graphs lists someone named “Bellati” as a Pitcher on the injured list. I think he may have been someone the pulled from the stands during the last homestand…
He’s a Phillies pitcher and no clue why he’s listed on the Reds IL over there. In fact, I double checked – he’s not even on the injured list with Philly and pitched for them two days ago.
“Greetings from the UK” RLN friends.
Will be interesting to see how the ToddFather does in the booth today.
Lmao.
I joined you “across the pond!” 🙂
Fish and chips on the menu or a meat pie?
Bangers and mash and a couple of pints of Watkins Bitters, if you please.
Mark, Where are you in the UK? My wife is from Millom (Lake District) about two hours from Manchester.(Go Man. U.!)
Beautiful country I hear, Votto.
Greenmtred, yes it really nice. We are going there for a visit in August. My wife is afraid we will miss Elly’s debut lol
Have a great trip, Votto. Maybe ELDC will debut before then.
It’s got it’s problems, but England comes across to me as a well cared for landscape garden.
I’m in Canada watching it. It’s a shame mlb makes it so difficult to watch games, but then say how they’re trying to “grow the game.”
Grilling out overseas today? haha
The Reds have the sixth worst record in baseball but only five games out of first in the Central . Feels like they have played better but their record still says they are terrible .
This team is going nowhere without pitching. Greene needs to turn it around today.
Relieved to see India in the lineup, thought it could be worse. And Stephenson needs a day. He looks terrible up there.
I hope Bell gives him 2-3 days off. Rest and a little cage work.
Good news for me … the WLW audio overlay is still available. That first inning was a little challenging for me to listen do. Larkin appears to have “Sadak Syndrome”, the main announcer on Peacock called the out to Benson a flyball that dropped fair (he corrected himself). Frazier wasn’t adding anything much other than for Larking to call him “TFraze”.
Glad to see Stephenson get a day off. He played in only 50 games last year and had 3 different injuries, including the season inning surgery. I think he is both rusty and pressing and needs to keep putting in the work.
Thats an obvious fair ball for Steer.
No doubt it’s a fair ball. India should score. Rizzo knew it.
Reds will get jobbed on this call. India should get home and they will put him on 3rd.
Wow shocked
I think they got it right.
Not a great move by Boone to go crazy over that one. Feel lucky they put Steer on 2nd rather than 3rd.
+500
Interesting that Boone argued so much — nothing that the umpires on the field could do because the call was made in New York, right?
+500 was supposed to go here. I’m not in the habit of “liking” my own stuff. 😀
The Peacock video feed isn’t playing commercials in the UK. I’m getting WLW radio commercials instead.
Curious, what kind of crowd today? 41374 yesterday, but an 11:35 start time on a Sunday in Cincinnati is pretty ambitious.
Bike helmets. Nice feed by Senzel and turn by Newman.
Senzel turns the 5-4-3. Greene needs more of this…quick innings and low pitch counts.
23 pitches thru 2 will work.
Twenty-three pitches over the first two innings for Greene. Let’s keep up that ratio.
We’ll take that especially from Greene.
Fairchild got picked off.
Yep by a hair
Let’s hope Handy put the seed of the “balk move” idea in the umpire’s head. Stewie was definitely out by a fingernail. Needed one of those oven mitts.
I believe this season’s position players roster is much more competitive than last year. Steer, India, McLain, Senzel, Friedl and Fraley have all played very well. Only missing is Stephenson returning to form, RF and DH.
I just don’t see much from Fairchild, they have to have better players somewhere.
What happened with Kiner-Falefa is, IMO, one of the things holding Greene back. Greene got ahead 0-2, then ended up walking the batter. He’s still struggling at times at putting batters away. The eye test tells me that happens much more than it should for any pitcher.
Too afraid of contact. He’ll learn. Sooner or later he’ll figure out it’s more fun to stay in the game longer.
He is throwing more change ups tho’. Baseball savant has 6 in 3 innings.
If I am any major league team, I AM NOT allowing a player to be mic’d up and talking to the announcers while play is underway like Peacock is doing. Imagine if the mic’d player makes an error while he’s trying to think through a question by the announcers.
I’m definitely not a fan of that little trick. I find it distracting. To me, it’s just lazy coverage because the folks in the booth can’t carry a game on their own.
I think it’s stupid to even expect a manager to give an in game interview. He’s got better things to do.
McLain is going to have to make adjustments on the low-and-away pitches or else he won’t be up for very long.
I heard that!
Greene looks more comfortable out there today than his previous couple outings.
He’s faced the minimum through four innings, thanks to a DP and a caught stealing by Maile.
Good comeback on Rizzo. Down 2-0 and k’s him.
This might be Greene’s best start yet.
We may be seeing Senzel’s kryptonite — righthanded pitchers. He’s hitting .181 vs. righties. His defense is terrific, but he can’t be the solution at any position if he can’t hit righties. He can be a platoon player at best if that is the case.
I was thinking the same. Marte/India will play 3rd and Senzel can platoon with Fraley.
With Mclain looking bad, they won’t be in a hurry to bring up EDLC or CED. The reality is that shouldn’t matter with the way they are playing.
McLain will have some growing pains of course but he has already done some pretty good things in the short time he’s been here.
Like every player, the pitchers have figured out how to get him out, and he will have to make adjustments.
He has only been to the plate for what 15 times? Let’s say we give him a few more.
Absolutely, but right now pitchers are going to continue going low and away with two strikes. He’ll have to figure it out. We all believe that he will.
I never have liked the Hairy Man.
Not going to win with one run. Greene pitching well.
And not going to win with Benson on the roster and CES in the minors.
Harrison Bader needs to play for the Mets next so I dislike him even more.
+1,000
When is the Reds management going to bothered by the fact that most visiting teams have more fans in the park than the Reds. The next series against St. Louis won’t be much better. I am really beginning to be concerned about the season basically ending the next few weeks. The schedule is tough and this team can’t hit. They have lost 5 out of 6 and things don’t look good today, 2 runs might be enough for the Yanks.
Not a big fan of Benson as a hitter. I don’t know about the rest of you guys but I’m getting real tired of seeing the Myers, Newmans, and Bensons play knowing that just one level down we have De La Cruz, CES, and Hopkins. Much rather see them even if they struggle some.
Melvin: You are 100% correct sadly you nor I is running this sorry team. I just don’t understand why they want to watch Myers, Benson and Fairchild struggle when there is no future for them.
Yep.
I concur!!!
Maile is earning himself some playing time so it would seem.
He can even steal bases. 🙂
But he still has to hit 9th for reasons that make perfect sense if you haven’t been watching any Reds baseball.
Agreed. He’s been very good in every phase of the game. His baseball card stats (64 OPS+) are what’s holding him back from a bigger role.
And that’s one of Bell’s many “blind spots.” He seems to be unwilling to acknowledge what’s actually happening on the field (Maile has been hitting better than Stephenson, lefty/righty matchups aren’t the most important thing, Farmer is cruising, Diaz is cruising, etc. etc.) in favor of some sort of magic formula that involves baseball cards, wild hunches, “thinking three moves ahead,” or whatever it is that he uses to come up with all his counterintuitive decisions that usually fail miserably.
Maile is hitting 9th today because Bell apparently hasn’t been watching any Reds games lately.
Maile has been getting more playing time lately. I know you disagree, but after the first three batters, the order doesn’t matter much. There’s a reasonable chance that the ninth batter will be up just before the leadoff hitter in a later inning–effectively the leadoff man. Today, with four hits through the top of the eighth, the batting order is nearly irrelevant.
@GMR- I appreciate you adding the stipulation “after the first 3 hitters” as I would mostly agree. I still like some righty/lefty back to back to help with bullpen scenarios and some thumpers at 4/5/6 to drive in the on base guys. That said, it doesnt matter if barrero hits 8th or 9 th or myers hits 7th or 6th or 8th.
Can we agree no Fairchild at 3/4/5?
Can we also agree Friedl is a spark plug and this team misses him and just leave him in the 2 hole regardless of handedness.
I agree with you, OS. The problem with Reds clean-up hitters right now is that they don’t really have any. Maybe–hopefully–EDLC, CES, etc. will become MLB thumpers pretty soon, though we could easily see a replication of McClain’s experience in the very early going: initial success followed by lots of strikeouts as opponents figure out how to pitch him.
That would be Maile’s fifth career stolen base and first since 2019.
Maybe some of non-catchers should also attempt to steal.
Waiting around for those “Millstone” Myers dingers is going to take awhile.
The reality is the team the Reds they are putting out on the field right now is worse than last year, if that’s possible. That could change when you add Freild, EDLC, CES and when Mclain starts to hit like he can.
They can. We can’t. That’s a big part of the difference this weekend.
As we all talked, you will not win against hardly anybody in GABP if you are always getting out homered.
Greene pitching in the 7th for the first time this year.
At this point, the positive I’m taking away is Greene pitching in the 7th and still looking pretty sharp/strong. Misplaced the bomb shots for sure. But he and Maile appear to be in sync.
Looking more and more like 19 and 27. I hope they can win 1 vs St. Louis. That would put them at 20 and 30 after 50 games. That’s about 97 losses, and about what everybody predicted. I had hope for a better season but unless some of the young guys can come up and add something to this offense 100 losses isn’t off the table, so sad.
Better throw gets him. Just a little too high.
Looks like the Yankees are heading for the sweep and the Reds are firmly in last place. Reality has arrived. BTW, McLain is now 4-18 with 11 SOs. Knocking the cover off the ball in AAA doesn’t necessarily mean you will when called up. We need to remember that. Hopefully, Bell and the Reds don’t jack him around and give him time. But, this is OJT and losing is part of that equation. Until a guy has 1200+ ABs, I’m not sure the stats are meaningful.
Many others have commented that AAA pitching is weak all the way around.
You called it Mark. People already complaining about Mclain.
No, once again @KevinH, you like others aren’t paying attention. I’m not complaining about McLain. I’m commenting on the expectations of folks here on RLN. No one has patience. In another couple of weeks if McLain doesn’t get it going, it won’t be me saying send him down. It’ll be other folks here. As I said last night, he’d be starting at 2nd with Barrero at SS, Fairchild in CF, Senzel at 3rd, Steer at 1B, Fraley & Benson rounding out the OF with India at DH. I’d play that lineup for a month or two and let the losses come as they will. The Reds current approach isn’t preparing them for future seasons. Nor are they going to win in even a weak division. And if miracles should occur and they make the playoffs, they’ll be out quickly. The Reds aren’t one or two players away from being competitive. They are a couple of years away.
Gotta agree with you, LDS. About McClain, anyway.
The fact is the young guys are going to struggle like this to some degree no matter when they’re called up. The sooner they get experience in the majors the sooner they become what they can truly be. If AAA pitching is indeed bad it’s not going to do them any good being down there anyway if they’ve already proved they can hit there.
Again, there’s little patience with the Reds and Bell doesn’t have a clue how to bring the young guys along. Neither does DJ apparently. Injuries among the young pitchers far exceed success stories. Until the Reds change management, spend money, and change their development approach, they aren’t going anywhere. And sadly, most of that requires new owners.
And Greene’s day is done, the chance at a Quality Start is shot, and the 3-run hole seems insurmountable.
Kudo’s to the Handyman for letting him stick this out. That first W won’t come today, but perhaps a little growth?
Greene’s like of run support doesn’t help, however he has looked good today. Future is bright
The fact is Mclain has not hit the ball hard yet and that means nothing. They have to give a chance.
Ahead 3-1 in the 7th inning, the Yankees pinch run with two outs, steal a base, and turn it into a run. In a tie game yesterday, the Reds had one of their slowest guys (who’s slumping badly) lead off the bottom of the 6th with a walk. Despite having a fast guy on the bench who could have been used to pinch run and then remain in the game at DH, they chose to do nothing, didn’t score, and lost the game in extra innings. This is the difference between actually trying to WIN a game and complacently hoping that everything magically works out somehow and making sure nobody’s feelings ever get hurt.
The Reds are 6-11 in one-run ballgames. That’s where little decisions made by the manager based on the feel and situation of the GAME make a difference.
Yesterday they lost by 3. Bad decisions can lose games that don’t even seem close when you look at the final score.
Reds have come back and won games but that usually evens itself out. This team is better than last year but they have a ways to go.
I agree. I think they will start to turn the corner next year and compete in 2025 provided Bob is willing to spend a little money. I think that is the big unknown at this point.
Yep I’ve been saying this is the winter Bob should spend some money. Votto and Moose are off the books. If he doesn’t spend money this year then he never will and it’s time for me to find something else to do.
I can’t imagine them going with a $40 million dollar payroll next year, then again I never thought they would be at $60 million this season.
I mean they could double their payroll next season and still have a below average payroll.
I mean, the Reds could double their payroll this off-season and still have a lower payroll than they had in 2021.
I can’t imagine them going with a $45 million dollar payroll next season. But then again, I
Didn’t think they would be at $60 million this year.
Well at least Greene lasted 7 innings! That’s a PLUS right? Soon to have a record of 0-4 because this offensive juggernaut that the Reds FO has assembled will rarely score more than 2 runs! Again, the NCAA College FB season cannot start soon enough!
I’m not sure what your looking for, but strike three fastball right down the middle is something you might want to look for.
We are one day closer to David Bell’s demise.
Or his contract extension. It could go either way with the BobPhil Monster Show.
True…we’re probably wake up tomorrow morning and learn David Bell has been named “Manager for Life”.
For those old enough …
“I am Field Marshall Idi Amin Dada … President for life.”
I can kind of picture in my mind Buddy Bell sitting next to Big Bob, nudging him and saying, “That’s my boy”. Big Bob then says, “As long as I’m here he will be manager”.
Or one day closer to an extension.
The backward K’s keep piling up.
On a happier note, I’ll head to the park for a walk and some quick weights at PF after the game. Then tonight’s menu is wild-caught tuna steaks on one of my charcoal grills. I’m thinking I may get my wife to mix up some of the glaze she normally uses when we do cedar plank salmon. Maple syrup, balsamic, and orange zest. That just sounds like it would pair well with the tuna.
Man. You made it back from your trip very quickly. 🙂
I’m not quite back yet, Melvin. Waiting for the teleporter to recharge enough to cover the distance.
haha 🙂
Senzel looks awful at the plate again, I just don’t see him as part of the future.
No Marte will be the 3rd baseman. If anything Senzel will platoon with Fraley.
I concur!
Good play by McLain there.
Man Larkin is a chatterbox when he isn’t with Sadak.
But is he actually saying anything worth hearing? And how many times has he called Todd “T-Fraze”?
I do see the point you are making. Sadak just won’t shut up.
All Rizzo could do is laugh at that “hit”.
Nice job by Herget.
Joined late to this daily fiasco that is the 2023 Reds! Who schedules a game to start before noon on a Sunday? Had yard work to do before it hits 90 here and needed to vacuum the swimming pool.
Looking at today’s starting lineup, I can honestly say that half of the 8 batters in Bell’s Sunday Special would not be starting for most other ML teams with except may the West Coast disaster and Reds doppelganger, the Oakland A’s. Exceptions, India, Steer, Senzel and McLain
Wandy quick pitching Maile and Newman
Too much, too little, too late from our man in the dugout.
Thrall and Cowboy are now talking about favorite post-game meals. Cowboy stating he has two plaques on the wall at Schula’s in South Florida for eating 48-ounce steaks in a single sitting. At least that’s more entertaining than watching Peralta do what it seems he couldn’t do often enough in a Reds uniform.
Cowboy is either talking about food or berating Barrero. Since Barrero isn’t playing he is free to talk about his diet.
It’s only been this last inning. And he was plenty complimentary of Barrero’s play in CF yesterday.
I like the from Bell. I think too from Friday when Yankees pitcher wasn’t ejected.
Bell was fired up and rightly so. Yankees best team money can buy.
And to me they aren’t that good. Reds are just as good
I’m good with Bell blowing his cork there. Came out saying, “It’s happened 3 times”.
They are better than we are … but they are not the NYY’s of old times. You’ll never see those days again IMO.
The first two games they showed some fight, but today they looked hopeless. Big difference between these teams, like playing at different levels.
Should have played the drinking game everytime Larkin says “T-Fraze”
I’m thinking you’d be “Harry Carey level” hammered by now
I think Bell is starting to get frustrated. I will precise this by saying I am not a Bell supporter, however the team he has now is awful and there really isn’t much he can do. Who should he play, he just does’t have any proven major league talent right now besides India. There are some possibles but India is the only proven talent and he is in his 3rd year and not a star by any means. As it stands right now this team is just not very good and any win should be appreciated.
I guess Bell can’t do much more even with a better and more healthy roster, he has just too many flaws.
As I’ve said before, it’s impossible to know what kind of talent the team actually has until they hire a manager who actually demands something of his players. When you see guys taking third strike after third strike after third strike, and nobody seems to feel the slightest bit of pressure to shorten their swing and protect the plate (as just one of many examples I could choose from), it’s impossible to know what kind of talent you’ve really got. Managers can affect their players’ approach to the game, and approach can affect production.
Flex-o-Zone on full display for the 3rd game in a row. From the 3rd different Chumpire. I’m beyond fed up with that garbage.
I know we are all different in our views but I would bring up CES and EDLC and play the young guys everyday. I would tell them they are our future and it’s time you guys played together and got use to each other.
EDLC
CES
McLain
Stephenson
Friedl
India
Steer
Fraley
Senzel
With others soon to follow.
You seem to be talking about the Tampa way but that doesn’t seem to be the Cincinnati way.
Going to take more than a little luck and fairy dust here to salvage the day.
Nope. Outcome as expected.
Bring on the Dirty Birds and their obnoxious traveling fan base.
Led by the Cubs, there seems to be an increasing number of obnoxious fan bases coming into Cincinnati.
The game comes down to Benson and his .043 average
And it ended just like I thought it would
I know there isn’t another left handed hitter, but hit anyone for Benson. Anyone.
Terrible bench the whole year.
He doesn’t belong in MLB. Hitting around .200 in AAA.
That was kind of a dud there at the end wasn’t it?
On to watch the kids in AAA now.
….and De La Cruz just cranked on over the LF wall. 🙂 ……457′
I also would have batted anybody on the bench for Benson. I have no idea what Benson is doing on the roster, Hopkins is far and away a better prospect.
Letting Benson bat clearly demonstrates a lack of interest in winning. Stephenson, Barrero, Myers, and Casali were all available to PH. Of all the young guys, Benson seems like the guy that needs the most additional time in Louisville. Regardless, letting him bat was probably a net positive move by Bell. But he really doesn’t look ready.
See I paying attention, and agree. I need to proof read at times before I comment.
I thought same thing
@KevinH, see sometimes we can agree.
Only fitting we leave the base loaded and NO pinch hitter for Benson! He should go back to being a butler!
Seriously, did anyone really think Bell would have pinch hit for Benson in the 9th? Even though the baseball gods from above are screaming, “Pinch hit, Pinch hit”, Bell wasn’t going to pinch hit.
Now the question would be, “Why?”. For that answer, who knows?
Could it be because Benson, in Bell’s mind, had the “edge” being a LH bat?
Doug pointed out that Benson, recently, was hitting much better in L’Ville. He was brought up because Ramos got injured and he (Benson) is on the 40 man. He will likely go back down when Ramos returns. Handedness splits actually do matter, Melvin. You could look it up.
hahaha Nothing against you personally but only to some degree do “handedness splits” matter. Benson has been doing better but not that much better. Give me a decent RH hitter over Benson for sure. Stephenson, even though he’s been struggling lately, had a better shot. Even Barrero would have had a better shot. Benson’s numbers, after going 0-4 today now has numbers of .042/.080/.042 at the ML level. Even after hitting “better” in AAA his numbers there are .198/.409/.385. But whatever. We don’t exactly have a lot of depth on our team. Need the young guys up and let them sink or swim.
Benson’s OBP was .468 and he had 21 walks vs, 13 strike outs. Not that much better? Most or all things that matter matter only to a point. It’s unclear from your comment what you believe the point to be: ignore splits? Only pay attention to them when you don’t have a hunch? Find them useful only as a point in the case you’re building?
If splits were all that mattered then there would be no every day players in the majors. Benson does, for reasons I don’t understand, seem to get many walks in AAA. However that doesn’t seem to work in the majors. Pitchers just aren’t going walk him up there until he proves he can hit. If I’m not mistaken he’s only had one hit, one walk, and 13 Ks in 25 PA when playing with the big boys going 0-4 again yesterday. As I said above, even after doing “better” in AAA his numbers there are still .198/.409/.385. That’s the kind of hitter you pinch hit for when the game is on the line no matter who he’s facing.
Lifeless. Listless. Lamentable. Last place.
You forgot laughable!
? Laughable. Ludicrous. Lousy.
How bout the most important one….LOSING.
And with Judge not in the Yankee lineup.
The utter ineptitude and complete incompetence of David Bell, letting Benson, a 0.43 hitter bat with the bases loaded. A travesty to let him continue to manage. Hopeless!!!
Who should have batted? I noticed that Judge wasn’t playing today. Maybe the Yankees would have loaned him to us for one at-bat.
@LDS
I dont have an issue with giving Benson an additional at bat and not overmanaging in a losing season. Unfortunately, Bell was over-managing. He didnt let Benson hit to give a young player a growth opportunity, he let him hit because:
1.) the vets were getting the day off and off limits
2.) the available vets hit right handed and Will Benson is left handed which makes him better than Stephenson and Myers against a righty. Dems da rules.
That said … Benson and Barrero look lost offensively.
No one looks more lost than Benson. Let’s put things into a proper perspective. Barrero is hitting .233. The Reds entire team last year hit .235. This year the Reds are only hitting .244 (prior to today’s game). And by the same “advanced” metrics that folks here used last year to say that Votto was just not lucky, Barrero’s BABIP, EV%, and HH% are all above league average, and well above folks like Myers, Newman, etc. So either the numbers mean something (which I question) or the evaluation criteria are ‘flexible’ depending on fans’ moods.