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MIAMI – Rece Hinds’ blistering start at the plate this season for Triple-A Louisville earned the Cincinnati Reds outfield prospect Player of the Week honors in the International League − and started the amateur baseball managers buzzing on social media.
Call up Hinds! Send out (fill in the blank)!
Hey, Terry Francona, what should we tell those fans?
“Whatever you want,” the Reds manager said. “Why would I talk to somebody on social media about one of our players?
“There’s no answer.”
Not for social media hand-wringers, for sure. Not this early in the season, not when small sample sizes amplify every bad game or series, not when guys who have been around the game as long as Francona trust big league track records.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t care about it. Because we know we have to score runs,” he said. “And we will.”
Meanwhile, answers for the Reds’ slow-starting bats have been as hard to find as Francona’s presence on social media.
By hook and crook of pitching and defense, they find themselves battling atop the National League Central with a winning record despite ranking dead last in the majors in runs – averaging exactly three per game after an 8-1 loss to the Marlins that sent them home with a four-game split in Miami and a low-wattage, 5-2 road trip.
“We trust that we’re going to get it going,” veteran Spencer Steer said. “It’s early. We’ve faced some tough pitching so far. We’ve got a lot of good hitters in this clubhouse, and it’s only a matter of time.”
Certainly, that’s the big thing on their side. They have 149 games left as they prepared to open a homestand against the Los Angeles Angels and starting pitchers with ERAs of 4.66 and 6.75 the first two games of that series.
The other big(gest) thing on their side has been an injury-depleted pitching staff that has largely made what few runs they’ve scored stand up for wins – including all four games in which they’ve scored exactly two runs.
“It’s gonna happen,” said Matt McLain, the Reds’ No. 2 hitter, who had the best offensive spring in the majors this year and has experienced more of an up-and-down start to the season – albeit, with several key moments, including a pair of late doubles in Tuesday’s comeback, extra-winning win over the Marlins.
“I think we’re swinging at a lot of the right pitches,” McLain said. “Sometimes it’s just getting into the rhythm of the game and continuing to grind it out throughout the season. It’s a long season, and we’re gonna be good.
“I mean, we’ve seen some arms, too.”
Arms? The Reds faced All-Stars Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray of Boston in the opening series; Cy Young winner Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler, a rookie of the year favorite, in their second series; and tough lefty MacKenzie Gore and red-hot former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara during the subsequent road trip.
They'll get another good one, right-hander José Soriano (3-0, 0.45), in the finale of that Angels series.
“I think it would be different if we were getting off to a start like last year,” said hitting coach Chris Valaika, of a club that was fighting back from a 3-7 start at this time last year.
“Overall, we’ve created opportunities, “ he said. “Just our situational hitting hasn’t been there, where we would have the ability to put some more runs up, especially like in that Texas series.”
The Reds swept the Rangers despite scoring just nine runs in the series, getting exceptional pitching in starts from Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns in 2-0 and 2-1 wins.
“But we’ve also run into some good arms, going through Pittsburgh and seeing some of those kids for the first time,” Valaika said. “Being in the division, being able to see them more frequently, we’ll have some more familiarity and know what to expect with that.
“But being where we are right now, I think it’s going to continue to get better.”
It obviously was designed to be a lot better when the Reds signed old-pal slugger Eugenio Suárez to that $15 million free agent deal coming off a 49-homer season and dropped him into the middle of the order that also added big-hitting rookie Sal Stewart for a full season.
Stewart certainly has done his job, winning National League Player of the Week honors out of the gate and more recently knocking around Marlins pitching during a four-game homecoming to Miami that included two home runs and a double in just the last two games of the series.
Two-time All-Star Elly De La Cruz has been a consistent producer in the early going, if not yet finding a stretch of the spectacular that has marked the first three seasons of his career.
The rest has been inconsistent at best two weeks into the season.
“We’re not trying to put too much pressure on it,” Valaika said.”We just continue trying to create opportunities and highlight that things are going to change.
“We’ll start driving those runs in, and we’ll start seeing some bigger numbers on the scoreboard.”
Entering the final game of the Miami series, the Reds not only were the only team with fewer than 40 runs, but they ranked fifth from the bottom of the majors in on-base percentage (.290) and third from the bottom in slugging (.328).
That’s neither a lot of opportunities on base, nor a lot of balls in the gaps or over the wall.
The early success in the win-loss columns helped keep the pressure off. But with losses in the last two games in Miami − after barely avoiding another with some late-inning magic − that becomes a focus in the approach.
No reason to press, Valaika said, especially if you’re getting on base and creating chances.
“The pitcher’s got his back against the wall when he’s got traffic out there,” Valaika said. “Obviously the scoreboard matters, and the stats are up there. There can be some press at times. So it’s just getting through this.
“Fortunately, we’ve been doing enough to be winning games. If we can continue that trend and hopefully start adding some more runs with the opportunities we’re creating and we’ll be in a good spot down the stretch here.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What happened to that upgraded offense the Cincinnati Reds expected?
Continue reading...
Call up Hinds! Send out (fill in the blank)!
Hey, Terry Francona, what should we tell those fans?
“Whatever you want,” the Reds manager said. “Why would I talk to somebody on social media about one of our players?
“There’s no answer.”
Not for social media hand-wringers, for sure. Not this early in the season, not when small sample sizes amplify every bad game or series, not when guys who have been around the game as long as Francona trust big league track records.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t care about it. Because we know we have to score runs,” he said. “And we will.”
Meanwhile, answers for the Reds’ slow-starting bats have been as hard to find as Francona’s presence on social media.
By hook and crook of pitching and defense, they find themselves battling atop the National League Central with a winning record despite ranking dead last in the majors in runs – averaging exactly three per game after an 8-1 loss to the Marlins that sent them home with a four-game split in Miami and a low-wattage, 5-2 road trip.
“We trust that we’re going to get it going,” veteran Spencer Steer said. “It’s early. We’ve faced some tough pitching so far. We’ve got a lot of good hitters in this clubhouse, and it’s only a matter of time.”
Certainly, that’s the big thing on their side. They have 149 games left as they prepared to open a homestand against the Los Angeles Angels and starting pitchers with ERAs of 4.66 and 6.75 the first two games of that series.
The other big(gest) thing on their side has been an injury-depleted pitching staff that has largely made what few runs they’ve scored stand up for wins – including all four games in which they’ve scored exactly two runs.
“It’s gonna happen,” said Matt McLain, the Reds’ No. 2 hitter, who had the best offensive spring in the majors this year and has experienced more of an up-and-down start to the season – albeit, with several key moments, including a pair of late doubles in Tuesday’s comeback, extra-winning win over the Marlins.
“I think we’re swinging at a lot of the right pitches,” McLain said. “Sometimes it’s just getting into the rhythm of the game and continuing to grind it out throughout the season. It’s a long season, and we’re gonna be good.
“I mean, we’ve seen some arms, too.”
Arms? The Reds faced All-Stars Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray of Boston in the opening series; Cy Young winner Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler, a rookie of the year favorite, in their second series; and tough lefty MacKenzie Gore and red-hot former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara during the subsequent road trip.
They'll get another good one, right-hander José Soriano (3-0, 0.45), in the finale of that Angels series.
“I think it would be different if we were getting off to a start like last year,” said hitting coach Chris Valaika, of a club that was fighting back from a 3-7 start at this time last year.
“Overall, we’ve created opportunities, “ he said. “Just our situational hitting hasn’t been there, where we would have the ability to put some more runs up, especially like in that Texas series.”
The Reds swept the Rangers despite scoring just nine runs in the series, getting exceptional pitching in starts from Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns in 2-0 and 2-1 wins.
“But we’ve also run into some good arms, going through Pittsburgh and seeing some of those kids for the first time,” Valaika said. “Being in the division, being able to see them more frequently, we’ll have some more familiarity and know what to expect with that.
“But being where we are right now, I think it’s going to continue to get better.”
It obviously was designed to be a lot better when the Reds signed old-pal slugger Eugenio Suárez to that $15 million free agent deal coming off a 49-homer season and dropped him into the middle of the order that also added big-hitting rookie Sal Stewart for a full season.
Stewart certainly has done his job, winning National League Player of the Week honors out of the gate and more recently knocking around Marlins pitching during a four-game homecoming to Miami that included two home runs and a double in just the last two games of the series.
Two-time All-Star Elly De La Cruz has been a consistent producer in the early going, if not yet finding a stretch of the spectacular that has marked the first three seasons of his career.
The rest has been inconsistent at best two weeks into the season.
“We’re not trying to put too much pressure on it,” Valaika said.”We just continue trying to create opportunities and highlight that things are going to change.
“We’ll start driving those runs in, and we’ll start seeing some bigger numbers on the scoreboard.”
Entering the final game of the Miami series, the Reds not only were the only team with fewer than 40 runs, but they ranked fifth from the bottom of the majors in on-base percentage (.290) and third from the bottom in slugging (.328).
That’s neither a lot of opportunities on base, nor a lot of balls in the gaps or over the wall.
The early success in the win-loss columns helped keep the pressure off. But with losses in the last two games in Miami − after barely avoiding another with some late-inning magic − that becomes a focus in the approach.
No reason to press, Valaika said, especially if you’re getting on base and creating chances.
“The pitcher’s got his back against the wall when he’s got traffic out there,” Valaika said. “Obviously the scoreboard matters, and the stats are up there. There can be some press at times. So it’s just getting through this.
“Fortunately, we’ve been doing enough to be winning games. If we can continue that trend and hopefully start adding some more runs with the opportunities we’re creating and we’ll be in a good spot down the stretch here.”
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What happened to that upgraded offense the Cincinnati Reds expected?
Continue reading...
