Caption: Elly De La Cruz (L), Jake Fraley (M), and Joey Votto (R) pose in the dugout following a Joey Votto home run

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a fourth-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

July 22, 2023

Entering the 2023 season of Major League Baseball, many baseball fans didn’t put much thought into standings of the National League Central. The division had been run by the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers for almost an entire decade and with very little changing on these rosters in the offseason, it didn’t look like much would be changing for another year.

However, heading into the All-Star break, the Brewers were in second place by a full game to the Cincinnati Reds with the Cardinals firmly in last place eight games back from first. You might read this and wonder if the Reds made any big offseason moves that have helped them. And the answer to that is, not really. The biggest offseason acquisition in Cincinnati was outfielder and first-baseman Wil Meyers who was designated for assignment and released before the break.

So now you might be thinking, “Just how bad is this division?” Well… pretty bad, but let’s focus on the good things!

This Reds team has been able to show that they are not only competitors for this year, but plan to cause issues in the National League for many years to come. As of 7/11/2023, FanDuel has three Cincinnati Reds rookies in the top five for favorites to win Rookie of The Year. Those players respectively are Spencer Steer (3B), Matt McLain (SS), and Elly De La Cruz (SS). Each of these young stars has brought his own spark to this team and has helped to make them actually fun to watch for the first time in years.

To see how well these three rookies are performing, here’s a brief breakdown of their stats so far:

Spencer Steer – .272/.363/.467, OPS+ 119, 14 HR, 51 RBI, 9 SB (91 Games)

Matt McLain – .299/.364/.509, OPS+ 128, 7 HR, 67 Hits, 7 SB (53 Games)

Elly De La Cruz – .297/.333/.478 OPS+ 113, 4 HR, 41 Hits, 16 SB (33 Games)

Although De La Cruz and McLain didn’t get to join the team until later in the season, they both have had tremendous impacts on the team. As soon as De La Cruz joined the team, his impact was felt as the team went 13-2 in his first 15 MLB games. During that spell, he led Cincinnati to a 12-game winning streak which is now the longest such streak in franchise history.

De La Cruz capped off that 12-game streak with a cycle in just his 15^th game in Cincinnati’s 11-10 win over the Atlanta Braves in one of the most exciting games of the year. Since then, De La Cruz has also set the bar in the MLB with the fastest sprint speed in baseball at 30.8 ft/s and the fastest throw on an infield assist in the Statcast era (since 2015) at 97.9 mph. He has truly been a human highlight reel to this point.

Along with all of those great rookies I have mentioned, the Reds have also gotten plenty of help from other notable rookies Will Benson and Andrew Abbott who have shown incredible spots of greatness to come.

As of now, Abbott is 5-2 with an ERA of 2.10 and ERA+ of 193 while striking out 57 batters through 55.2 innings thus far in his career. Through the first five starts of his MLB career Abbott was 4-0 through 29.2 innings and only given up four runs (none of which were given up in his first three starts). Although Abbott has cooled down recently, I anticipate him being an integral piece of the Reds starting rotation for years to come.

Speaking of pitchers, Cincinnati has had a rough go of it thus far on the pitching front. As of today, arguably their best two pitchers are still on the 60 day injured list, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo. The fact that this team has been able to not only compete but command the division for almost a month without their two best starting pitchers shows me that when everyone is healthy, the Reds are going to pose a problem for opposing teams.

As I am writing this, I checked Twitter and saw that Cincinnati has decided to call up another huge prospect in Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the big leagues. Though 267 games across all levels of Minor League Baseball, Christian has slashed .330/.398/.616 with 71 homers and 273 hits. Clearly this kid can mash the baseball and I am looking forward to seeing him compete against big leaguers.

As things stand today (7/22/2023) the Reds are in the midst of a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks and are 1.5 games behind the Brewers after going 4-6 in their last ten games. Although Cincinnati had seemingly hit a cold patch with a 6-game slide, they have since bounced back to win 4 straight. I think once they have a fully healthy team, they still have a chance at the division. And while they aren’t in first, I can still take solace in the fact the St. Louis Cardinals are 11 games back and in next to last place.