The Cincinnati Reds have made several roster moves today. Jake Fraley, who was suspiciously unavailable in last night’s game against the Washington Nationals, has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a stress fracture in one of his toes on his left foot. Taking his place on the roster is outfielder TJ Hopkins, who was called up from Triple-A Louisville. The Reds also announced that Lyon Richardson has been added to the taxi squad.
Fraley has been utilized against right-handed pitchers for much of his time with the Reds after being acquired in spring training of 2022 from the Seattle Mariners. In his parts of two seasons with Cincinnati he’s hit .261/.345/.467 and posted an OPS+ of 117. He’s been nearly identical in his two years with the club with an average, on-base percentage, and OPS all within four points of each other from one year to the next. The left-handed hitting outfielder is going to miss some time now, potentially leaving the club a bit short of having a second lefty power bat to go along with Will Benson.
TJ Hopkins is being called up for the second time this year. Much of his season has been spent in Triple-A with Louisville. In his 85 games with the Bats he’s hit .318/.425/.541 with 16 doubles, a triple, and 16 home runs. He hit well in April, posting a .968 OPS, but he had eight walks to go along with 27 strikeouts in the month. Since May 1st he’s continued hitting well, posting a .312/.434/.530 line on the season, but he’s really improved his walk and strikeout rates. In 265 plate appearances with Louisville since May 1st he’s walked 45 times and had 52 strikeouts.
With the addition of Lyon Richardson to the taxi squad it appears that it’s a signal that he will step into the rotation tomorrow for the now-injured Ben Lively. Richardson, the club’s 2nd round pick out of high school in 2018, is in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. He spent a short amount of time in Single-A Daytona at the start of the season where he made three starts in April. Then he moved up to Double-A Chattanooga where he pitched in 15 games for the Lookouts. His most recent start came in Triple-A with Louisville – his only one so far this year.
Between his three stops he’s made 19 starts and posted a 1.86 ERA. But he’s also thrown just 58.0 innings as the team has been very cautious with him in his return and they’ve limited his pitch count. In his 16 starts between Double-A and Triple-A he’s thrown 49.0 innings while allowing 36 hits, two home runs, 22 walks, and he’s struck out 63 batters. You can see his career stats here.
He’s only topped 67 pitches once and it was three weeks ago when he threw 76 for Chattanooga. Only five of his 19 starts have seen him top 60 pitches. He’s been dominant, but he’s also not been asked to go deep into ballgames.
From a stuff perspective he’s throwing both a 4-seam and 2-seam fastball, though it’s mostly the 4-seamer and it’s averaged 97.4 MPH in the four games he’s pitched in this year with pitch tracking in the stadium. He’s also throwing a change up, slider, and a curveball.
Get well Jake, we will miss you.
Welcome Lyon!
I hope that he throws a gem tomorrow after his nerves settle down.
How exciting it must be to get your 1st ever call up.
Glad to have Hopkins back. He has mashed in Louisville this year. Hope he gets ABs ahead of Fairchild.
He didn’t so well earlier as a Red.
I know. Neither did Benson his first time this year. Hoping the nerves are less this time through.
I hope they’re not overthinking things to set up the Richardson start – namely letting starters go longer since Sunday is essentially a bullpen game. Richardson may do very well, but there’s no chance he goes more than 3 ip; likely 2.
That opens up the missing long man role that would help. Yeah, do not over extend him.
Jake looked like the turf monster had a hold of his right foot on that last catch that he made at Wrigley. That may not have anything to do with his injury, but he looked down at his foot in a way that indicated that the clete was dug in, or the adjustment to twist his upper torso to secure the catch may have caused the stress injury.
Now would be a good time for Tyler Stephenson to get hot & take up some slack. Steer needs help. Station to station baseball needs to reappear.
Yes it would be good for TS to turn it up a notch but between his offense and defense, I’m not sure he is physically well enough to get the job done.
Yeah, he’s not right. I worry about his plate discipline though as that was a strength of his.
Rick>> I think TS can’t pull the trigger or check swings as effectively as he could prior to the shoulder issue and just locks up.
And don’t tell me something wasn’t barking or snagging in his shoulder on those 2 wild throws in the same game at Wrigley. Those things looked like overshot top spin lobs from tennis, not high baseball throws.
I am mildly surprised they didn’t bring up Barrero instead. Question now becomes who is sent down if India reappears as anticipated on Tuesday.
Hopkins is fine IF he plays. Last time he was used sparingly and the results weren’t good. Same with Barrero. These guys need to play everyday, like Votto.
I would love to see Hopkins get some extended at bats just to see what he could do but I expect we see more of Senzel or Fairchild.Barrero could walk on water but he will not be given another chance on this team.Hope Reds do him right and trade him to a team that will give him a legit shot.IMO 400 at bats over 3 seasons,not playing his normal spot the 1st time,coming off an injury the 2nd time and this year with Newman well was not a legit shot.
I am the guy who said they could get by w/o Fraley’s offense, oh well.
As I see it, as soon as India is back, Steer goes to one corner and Benson to the other. CES and Votto alternate DH/1B. When one of them sits, Steer comes in to play 1B or DH.
What they need is a LH bat with some pop off the bench. Ramos (.944 AAA OPS) or career 4A guy Nick Martini (.866 OPS) from Louisville’s roster could be that guy but neither is on the Reds 40 man roster.
Agreed. What do Hopkins L/R splits look like in Louisville?
…But it was for Steer? Stop the excuses for Barrero. He has been a mess and appears to be a 4A player.
OBE>> Thanks for the correction on Siani. I was trying to track too many guys from memory without looking back. I recalled Siani had been on quite a run but was thinking I had seen him above .800 and figured he had topped out and was regressing. That .800 figure must have been an interval OPS.
Most of the time it seems like a short stay for the recalled player. Probably him or Stuart.
I wonder since Barrero has played SS from what I’ve read atleast, that they are still trying to build offseason trade value as a SS.
Barrero plays CF occasionally. The OF at Louisville was actually crowded until Fairchild and Hopkins were called up over the last week.
I haven’t even mentioned one time Wunderkind Michael Siani who is on the 40 man. His OPS is .734. He typically plays CF most nights. Fairchild was almost exclusively a corner guy in his most recent MiLB stint. Hopkins, Ramos, and Martini alternated the opposite corner from Fairchild and DH.
To the below post by Jim Walker.
Thanks for clarification on the Barrero CF PT.
Jim, Siani has been on a roll now for about 9 weeks. Had an OPS of about .811 in June and .916 in July (speaking from memory). Has continued it in August. Has 21 SBs in 25 attempts, and plays excellent CF.
Was awful in April; meh in May.
Still only 24.
Last two nights Reds are 0-18, 6 Ks and 2 gidps with RISP. Fraley’s injury isn’t going to help that.
Zero chance Lyon does worse than Lively’s last start and zero chance he is any worse than Luke Weaver. Win!
Lively was hurt in his last start if you didn’t connect the poor results with going on IL right after.
Bell should have noticed something was off with Lively by all those runs he gave up. I know he was using him like that to save the bullpen, but Bell could have inadvertently aggravated the injury to Lively.
@Jason, so why is it we have a pitching coach? Nevermind, just easier to blame Bell for everything, right?
@Chris:
Yes, as he is the manager of the team, the pitching coach can give recommendations (or not) but it is still up to Bell, as the manager of the team, to make a decision to pull a pitcher. Do you really think Johnson wants to see his pitchers get traumatized by giving up 10 plus runs?
As much as it hurts for Fraley to be out, the bright side is that it forces Bell to actually give some thought to the lineup rather than mindlessly sticking with whatever idea he came up with a couple months ago. Perhaps, just PERHAPS, he’ll consider moving Benson out of the #8 or 9 spot today? Maybe all the way to — dare I dream — #6? Since he wants to alternate hands, and he’s not going to rethink his top-three or let Benson hit cleanup, I have to assume Votto is hitting cleanup. So maybe today it goes: EDLC, Friedl, McLain, Votto, Steer, Benson, CES, somebody, Maile?
Close but no cigar. Benson at #7. It’ll obviously require at least one more injury for the guy with the team’s highest OPS against right-handed pitchers to hit in the top 6 against a right-handed starter.
Last night was among the worst examples of Bell’s lineup mismanagement.
Did he read the Enquirer article? Was he self reflective at all?
I doubt it.
Another game where the Reds seem to willfully played a man short.
Or was it strategic to pretend Fraley was hiding in the dugout and available to ph?
Could Hopkins have made the ride up for last night’s game, pinch ran for CES leaving Benson to ph for Senzel or Newman?
Maybe not.
Bell has checkers mentality when a chess player’s brain is called for.
Count me among those who are okay with where Benson has been hitting….though he has cooled off considerably of late….but it’s time for some adjustments.
Hard to see Senzel thriving at #2 and Friedl doesn’t seem right behind the low obp EDLC.
As has been pointed out, better situational management and emphasizing basic baseball fundamentals likely could do more for the offense than micro adjusting the batting order
And I see Senzel has successfully whined himself into the starting lineup every day. Still looks like a suboptimal lineup to me. For example, I think EDLC has shown he’s not a leadoff hitter. Move him to #3 and move everyone else up a notch or move Benson to the front of the lineup. And move Votto down. And where’s Stephenson? He needs to be playing to get his hitting going again – not sitting for Maile.
Hopefully they put Hopkins into RF, and just roll with it. An extended look in the bigs for a guy who has really hit well in AAA seems to make the most sense. If Hopkins fails to adapt to MLB pitching, he’ll probably hit as well as Fairchild, or Senzel. All upside imo.
The opportunity to have two “TJ”s in your outfield at once shouldn’t be missed.
How come Conner Phillips didn’t get the call up? He seems to have pitched better
I’d guess they are looking for a guy to make 2 or 3 starts and then transition to the bullpen/ spot starts for the rest of the year when Greene et al comes back. Richardson fits that bill because he is still building back up from TJ surgery and while all his appearances in 2023 have been starts, he works only 3 innings or so per start.
Meanwhile Phillips keeps on at Louisville for possibly a longer and deeper role down the line.
Krall explained this quite clearly the other day when he was explaining why the Reds didn’t trade for a starter. “The guys in the minors are still in the minors for a reason.” That’s why.
Plus, that would require a 40 man roster decision. They’d have to add Phillips and drop someone off. I don’t think they want to do that yet. Who would they drop off?
Oh, I have a couple good ideas for them….
Probably, but that could be the end of that person’s time and reliability as a Red. Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know.
Hey Randy!
Randy, who makes the best pizza in Chattanooga? We’ve tried several places and at first we liked Pizza Bros. on Broad St., but they lack consistency.
Surprised they didn’t call up a lefty bat, Ramos/Siani, since they lost a lefty. Doesn’t matter I guess, wunderkind superstar whiney Senzel and his .220 BA will get all the ABs anyway.
Nicky is at 3b hitting 8th.
Benson-RF
Steer-LF
Indeed, he will today. And another shot at third base.
Glad Benson moved up. I’d love to see him have a career day & force the issue.
Senzel has been fairly productive this season.
I don’t think the ‘whiney’ bit holds much water.
Guy met with his agent and Krall looking to be traded. Sounds like some opportunities might have been found but Krall didn’t pull the string.
Who knows what Senzel was told? Certainly he’s been yanked around enough by the team, playing wherever asked.
He made a clear statement he likes the city and the team.
I can’t blame the guy for grousing a bit, he likely is justified in grousing more.
Who cares how much money he’s made or will be making. Votto makes 10-20 times and he wants to play everyday, too.
There’s no real spot on the team for Senzel barring injury…which we’ve just seen.
And then there’s Newman, Fairchild and now Hopkins.
Senzel and his agent can see that.
He can like the city and the team and still want out.
More power to him.
Senzel hitting .230 with limited power production and .180 vs RHP is hardly my definition of “fairly productive.” Sadak espouses Senzel vs LHP, and he had success early, but even his BA there has been in free-fall the last month/6 weeks. And yes, I saw his HR off the oft-abused Corbin last might but don’t think he got the ball out of the infield his other 4 ABs, including a bases loaded flop with the game on the line. Whining to the media won’t cut it, crap or get off the pot.
Think about it…look at Senzel’s stats against LHP which he has done ‘fairly well’ against.
9 hrs and 37 rbis in ~230 abs.
You can do the math on projecting that.
I’m not suggesting he’s Ohtani, just fairly productive.
And your definition of productivity can be whatever you want it to be.
Glad you corrected your take on his ba.
Ellt
TJ
Matt
Steer
Votto
CES
Benson
Senzel
Maile
I’m normally not one who believes this organization really does any sort of “scheming,” but even *I* can’t help but wonder if there isn’t some scheming behind the fact that Ramos wasn’t called up. You’ve got a guy who can hit against lefties and righties, he’s had at least a little bit of success in the majors, he’s been hitting great at AAA, brings a lot of energy, etc., and they decided to leave him in AAA and then start Senzel against a right-hander?
If they’d brought Ramos up, they’d have no excuse whatsoever for leaving him on the bench today, which would make Senzel sad, and, more importantly, cause a real headache for them if he hits well, because then they’d have to keep letting him play until he stops hitting. By contrast, they could bring Hopkins up, let one of the other right-handed outfielders play instead of him, send him back down when India gets back, and nobody even needs to know he was ever here. No headaches whatsoever.
Senzel is getting more PT since his meeting.
Ramos, as Jim listed above would seem like a somewhat obvious need guy to bring up.
Unless the plan is to actually let Hopkins play quite a lot to see what he can do, which I bet isn’t the plan at all (as evidenced by today’s lineup), this is just another case of the Reds not prioritizing winning. They could have brought up someone who would actually give them a better chance of winning, but that would have made a veteran player unhappy, so instead they’re going with a guy who’ll probably sit on the bench for a few days and perhaps be used as a pinch runner or pinch hitter, and he’ll be perfectly happy about that role. This is the Reds’ mentality in a nutshell.
Ah, but I’m forgetting Ramos isn’t on the 40-man roster. So they would actually need to take the radical action of DFA’ing a guy who isn’t helping them win, which they’re not going to do because that’s too much of a bother. Ramos could be hitting .600 and they’d leave him in AAA.
I agree. I’m betting that TJH goes back down when India gets activated and we still need a lefty – that’s also a switch hitter.
Looking at the lineup, wouldn’t you like players with more consistent ability to get on the base at the top of it? Why not give Benson a shot at leadoff? He could be a big surprise (at least to Bell) at his ability to walk, steal bases, hit gap shots, etc. I love EDLC but maybe just switch him to 6 or 7th in the lineup. Like have him behind Votto so that Joey sees some pitches to whack? And I would put Senzel 9th. Maile actually has shown some clutch ability.
For the people here who desperately wanted this season to be about “sorting”, congratulations your wish has come true.
I’ve never really understood what that term meant, but it was very popular for awhile.
Along with: “________ will be fine.”
and
“-________ will get moved at the deadline for prospects!”
and
“Bell knows things that we don’t know….”
@Harry same. I am looking forward to this winter when Free Agent after Free Agent comes off the board and Nick Krall tells us “We already have what we need”. Good times.
Is it too much to ask them to do more than one thing at a time? There’s always sorting going on, but they need to add winning to the agenda.
I’d like to see the Viking homerun headpiece sent to the museum as a reminder of the return of exciting ML baseball to Cincinnati with this young team. They should use their youthful enthusiasm to celebrate meeting the ball, getting on base and take advantage of their speed. Homeruns will happen. This is the way, imo, for them to reach the playoffs this season.
TR: I don’t think MLB wants the players to stop celebrating in the dugouts, on the basepaths (after hitting a homerun) or showing up other players. It gets MLB increased ratings and makes the sport seem more youthful and exciting to younger folks. I hate all the celebrations because it’s not that rare of a feat and when I played ball, I would have been running laps after the game. But, time’s have changed even if we don’t like it.
odd how some here want to slam a player advocating for himself as a “whiner”. but these are probably the same people who’ve never managed a little league team, but know so much more than bell, or think they would have made such better trades than krall.
Have no problem with a guy advocating for himself….just don’t do it in the media. There’s a time and place for everything, what Senzel did was selfish.