The Louisville Bats seemed to break some news this morning when they posted their lineup for the day and it had Nick Senzel batting leadoff and playing third base. The Cincinnati Reds had not yet announced that Senzel would begin a rehab assignment today and as I’m typing this sentence there still hasn’t been an official announcement by the Reds, though it’s clearly happening since he’s in the Louisville lineup today. Louisville’s top four in the order today are all rehabbing Reds with Senzel leading off, Joey Votto starting at first base and hitting second, Wil Myers hitting third and serving as the designated hitter, and Henry Ramos batting cleanup and in right field.
In the week leading up to being placed on the injured list, Nick Senzel was originally in the starting lineup and was scratched with soreness in his knee. The Reds decided to give him a rest to recover, placing him on the 10-day injured list on June 6th. He will be eligible to return on June 15th, but Cincinnati has that day off before returning to the field on Friday the 16th on the road against the Houston Astros.
In 2023 the season got out to a slow start for Senzel. In his first 11 games he hit .139. But in the 34 games since that point in the season he hit .291/.361/.441 with seven doubles, four home runs, 14 walks, and 30 strikeouts in 144 plate appearances.
As these guys recover, a Senzel/Fraley platoon in RF, Friedl in CF and Steer in LF might be the best starting OF the Reds can make with the current roster.
Fairchild would be my pick for the 4th OF
Whatever they do, CES needs to be up here at some point in the near future.
Yeah. Like right now.
No. Senzel is not OF. And definitely not RF. He is 3B.
Senzel 3B. Elly SS. McLain 2B. India DH. Steer 1B not LF.
Things are going from bad to worse. Less than a week ago we were all set to see EDLC while taking in a couple of games on travels through Louisville. Now, less than a week away fro Louisville EDLC is in Cincy, as is Abbott, and we get to see Reds Light, consisting of Myers, Ramos, Votto and Senzel. Oh well, at least we get to see them at Bats’ prices rather than GABP prices!
Patience @Doc, in a couple of weeks they’ll all likely be in Cincinnati gumming up the works.
Be thankful you’re not there today. As I understand it CES is not in the lineup.
More likely squeezed out by rehabs rather than on his way to Cincinnati
Is this a matter of kicking the can down the road rather than making necessary roster decisions, as now they can keep Senzel there 30 days?
I don’t think so, MK. I jsut see it as, “he’s ready to go after 5 days rather than 10, so let’s let him get some at bats rather than sitting for the next 5 days.”
My hope is that he’s activated on the 15th and Barrero is optioned. It’s not that I don’t like Berrero. Rather, I just don’t like Barrero sitting on the bench. I think he needs to get at bats if he’s ever going to develop the potential that many of us think he has.
Doug, that was a good catch on the Senzel lineup before the Reds publicized it. The Reds staff were caught gazing at their mobile phones playing, instead of working! Ramos batting clean-up makes sense. He’s had two HRs recently and batting strongly.
Hope he can return on Friday. His ability to play all over (when he’s available) helps the team especially if he is hitting.
“Louisville’s top four in the order today are all rehabbing Reds with Senzel leading off, Joey Votto starting at first base and hitting second, Wil Myers hitting third and serving as the designated hitter, and Henry Ramos batting cleanup and in right field.”
Oh great. Just one more way to push down and keep down CES. I’m guessing all of these rehabbing Reds will get brought up before CES does.
I suspect the Reds are waiting to see what happens with Votto before making a decision on CES. If Votto recovers to the point where he is able to be activated then CES stays in Louisville. If Votto fails to recover CES will probably be recalled at that time.
Votto isn’t the only one blocking CES. Stephenson has been DH 2-3 games per week. We have an overload of 1B/DH. Not enough ABs to go around. If CES could play OF or C, you would have a different dynamic. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to bring him up if he sits on Votto days. Deserving but constipated right now at 1B/DH.
Call them both up IMO, they can split 1B and DH, with TS still in the mix.
CES isn’t ready. His strikeout rate is over 30% and he has like 5 walks all year. That’s not gonna cut it at MLB. It’s really unlikely given his hitting profile that he’s gonna hit
300 up at the bigs so he has to do a better job of not whiffing. It’s one of those things where just looking at base numbers doesn’t help you project whether the guy will be a productive major leaguer or not.
????
CES K% is like 22.1
BB% 9.5
HR. 17
BA .362
OPS 1.131
It’s time to see what he can do against the next level.
Did you happen to look up the statistics before submitting your post or did you just do that on emotion only?
CES has 19 walks this season with a .427 OBP. I’d say that is quite acceptable.
Wil Myers cannot be DFA’d while he is on the Disabled List. He will get a chance to play at AAA and “rehab”, but if he does not hit (and he is not hitting), then maybe he gets reactivated by the Reds, and then immediately DFA’d, clearing his spot on the 40 man roster…..for CES.
I am not sure that the Reds are obligated to activate and recall Henry Ramos, although I think he is actually hitting. Perhaps he also gets activated and then traded, or Benson/Hopkins/Fairchild get sent down to AAA if Henry is activated. If Ramos hits, maybe he gets traded at the deadline (July 31) or the Reds keep him if they are winning.
I like Nick Senzel on the team, and he can probably play about everywhere except SS and Catcher. He is actually an elite fielding 3rd baseman. Looking at the numbers that Doug posted, he has actually been hitting pretty well for a good stretch. He is also getting paid ~ $2 Mil this year, so unlikely to be “DFA’d”, though he might very well be tradeable to the right team.
If Joey hits and is recalled, he will play 1st base and DH. Something then kind of has to give. Likely one of the three catchers gets traded or DFA’d (somebody would want Casali or Maile), and Stephenson will not be DH’ing much longer. I would hope they would keep Spencer Steer, as Joey will be done after this year (very likely), and they will need Steer AND CES to play 1st/DH.
EDLC’S MLB K rate is currently ~50%
Not ready to give up on him yet.
I think CES has a Bell problem.
“Today’s just not his day.”