Nick Castellanos could become the Reds' first batting title winner since Pete Rose

CHICAGO – With three weeks remaining in the season, Nick Castellanos is on pace to win a batting title.

The Cincinnati Reds haven’t had a batting champion since Pete Rose won his third batting title in 1973. Scooter Gennett led the league as late as Sept. 15 in 2018, but he finished second in the National League, 16 points behind Christian Yelich.

Castellanos leads the NL with a .320 batting average entering Wednesday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs, a fraction ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Trea Turner (.320). Injured Reds outfielder Jesse Winker is third in the NL with a .307 batting average.

“I think that to hitters, rightfully so, it’s really important,” Reds manager David Bell said. “I think it’s an important stat. I think it’s something that is probably more important to the actual hitters than maybe it is to the people that evaluate statistics just because the daily grind of the game is affected a lot by whether or not you get a hit or get multiple hits.”

Castellanos is a career .279 hitter, peaking with a .298 batting average in 2018 when he was with the Detroit Tigers. He’s hitting .368 at Great American Ball Park this season and .274 on the road.

Batting average has been devalued in some circles as advanced statistics are more encompassing of several offensive categories. 

"People devalue a lot of things that are really important to win baseball games," Castellanos said. "Average, of course. Always when you were growing up, the players that were really respected as good hitters and productive players are the ones that got hits, had high averages, hit for extra-base hits, hit homers, drove in runs and scored runs."

Castellanos, an All-Star starter, entered Wednesday on a seven-game hitting streak, which included four multi-hit games. He’s hit safely in 18 of his last 21 games.

“It’s been really impressive to watch because this game just keeps getting harder and harder,” Kris Bryant said. “You don’t really see guys that are able to have that high batting average like that. I don’t know where it’s at right now, but it’s up there and it’s hard to do that. It’s really impressive.”

What does it mean to Castellanos that he's hitting above .300?

"Of course, you always want to do that at least once in your career to say that you've hit .300 in the big leagues," he said. "I'd much rather hit .300 in the big leagues than hit .200 and have 100 walks. I don't like the walk, strikeout or homer approach."

GOLD GLOVE KUDOS: Two-time Gold Glove winner Tucker Barnhart wrote an all-caps tweet after shortstop Kyle Farmer’s over-the-shoulder, running grab in the eighth inning in Tuesday’s win, “HEY RAWLINGS, THIS MAN NEEDS GOLD!”

“Sometimes, you have to see somebody on a daily basis to really appreciate how good they are,” Bell said. “We’ve all had the opportunity to do that. Kyle makes a lot of spectacular plays, but they go under the radar a little bit because he makes them look easy.

“He has excellent range, but he also positions himself well. He turns a lot of difficult plays into easier plays. He definitely makes the routine play as well as anyone I’ve seen play that position. Very accurate arm, strong arm, quick release, just really good timing and just a natural at that position.”

WARREN UPDATE: Art Warren was hit around in his third rehab appearance at Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday, allowing three runs on three hits and one walk in two-thirds of an inning.

Warren has five strikeouts and one walk in 2 2/3 innings as he returns from an oblique injury.

“He’s healthy, he’s going to pitch a little bit more,” Bell said. “He had two-thirds of an inning, somewhere between 25 and 30 pitches. Just trying to pitch his way back into where he’s comfortable and as close as possible to how he was pitching before he got injured. Not quite there yet.”

WORK IN PROGRESS: Michael Lorenzen thought he found a fix for his changeup with the help of virtual reality. He surrendered a home run to pinch-hitter Rafael Ortega on the first changeup he threw Tuesday, but then struck out Willson Contreras with another one.

“I think he’s still working through that,” Bell said. “I know he is. There’s no question it’s not going to affect his confidence. He knows exactly what he’s doing and where he’s at. He’s going to get back real soon. His arm strength is there. He’s healthy. He’s got great stuff. It’s just a matter of time before he locks it completely back in.”

Lorenzen admitted his frustration with his changeup after giving up the go-ahead run in Monday’s loss to the Cubs. It’s a putaway pitch he has struggled to command all year.

“He has so many different pitches and has such great stuff,” Bell said, “I do think maybe before (Tuesday), there were some signs that he was working on some things to get back to where he felt really great and confident about where he’s at.”