Matt’s Take

While the Cincinnati Reds broke their losing streak finally against the Giants, they followed that win up with a very frustrating loss the following day. As I am writing this, they are hoping to pull off a much-needed series win on Sunday, but there are so many question marks with this roster. Can this team get back to .500 baseball? Can they find a way to win games when they get behind early? Will they finally figure out the fine line between being aggressive and making mistakes on the basepaths? I’m not sure of the answer or how to fix the looming issues with this team, but I do know that I am so very tired of the “it’s a long season” mindset. I’ve watched Cincinnati sports my whole life. It’s time to win now and not let this season get away before they even hit mid-May. At 40 games into the season, the Reds have a losing record. You can’t chalk it up to “it’s a long season” forever.

Fine Line

There is a fine line between being aggressive and making silly mistakes on the pads. With aggressiveness, I understand that the risk will not always be worth it. But at what point do they take a step back and stop trying to extend silly doubles, stealing when down multiple runs without reason, and making egregious mistakes on the bases series after series? Elly can steal whenever he wants and I am totally fine with him doing whatever he feels necessary and I believe he will learn from his few mistakes of trying to steal a bag simply for the statistic like we watched this week as he got thrown out at third. But, the second game in San Francisco was truly full of baserunning errors. I know David Bell said they were good decisions and just good throws by the Giants defense, but it wasn’t. There is a fine line between aggressive and silly and last weekend, Cincinnati crossed that line.

Wild Card

As awful as the last two weeks of Reds baseball have been, Cincinnati still sits at just 2.5 games back from a Wild Card spot. While it might feel like the world is falling, Cincinnati is still very much in the race and far off from looking like Miami or Colorado. At 17-22, they can get back to .500 baseball if they take it one game at a time. Cincinnati has fallen to seven games back from first place in the NL Central, but they have many opportunities to make up ground in the division in late May and June. This rotation has been good enough to keep Cincinnati in games and I feel like they will be just good enough to keep hope in the Queen City. Cincinnati will get back to .500 baseball at some point in 2024 if they can find some consistency at the plate and I truly believe that.

Random Thoughts

· I love Will Benson, but at 56 strikeouts (second most in baseball) and the highest K% in the league, he might need a break from the game to adjust his approach at the plate. He is hurting this lineup night in and night out.

· In the last week, Cincinnati doesn’t have a single person in the top 83 players in baseball regarding most hits.

· In the last week, Jeimer Candelario is turning it on with a .316 BA, a home run, and six hits. He looks a lot more disciplined at the plate than he did to begin the season.

· In the last 30 days, Spencer Steer is batting just .181, far from his hot bat to begin the season.

· Jonathan India probably should’ve been traded at his peak. His rookie season appears to have been “fool’s gold” and I honestly don’t believe he will ever get back to the numbers he put up in 2021.

· I hate wins/losses in baseball regarding the stat for pitchers. Greene never gets run support and has some of the worst luck throughout his career. It is a deceiving stat for this entire rotation as they have been solid to begin the year.

· When the second pick in the MLB Draft approaches on July 14 for Cincinnati, the Reds will either be getting Charlie Condon or Travis Bazzana. Both players are studs and could quickly find their way on the big league roster the following season. Condon set a new NCAA record for homers this week, while going yard eight games in a row. Bazzana fits into the Reds mold of speed, as he has the record in the Pac-12 for stolen bases all-time, along with crushing the baseball. You honestly can’t go wrong with either choice at the current time and it will be nice to have an established player joining the Reds system in a few months.