After years of Mike Hessman beating up on the Bats pitching the Cincinnati Reds went out in the offseason and signed the infielder to play for Louisville. He would spend the entire season with the Bats.
Mike Hessman knows how to get a party started as he homered twice in his first game of the season. He followed that up the next day with two more home runs and a walk in four at bats to push his total to four in just two games. The next day he went 0-2 with a walk but he did drive in two more runs, giving him 6 RBI over the first three games of the season. He would homer again on the 9th of April and drive in two more runs. After that he went into a slump over his next 13 games, going just 5-41. He would break out of his slump going 4-8 with 3 doubles on the 28th and 29th of the month before finishing out with an 0-3 day against Lehigh Valley. He would finish the month of April with a .208/.280/.486 line with 7 walks and 26 strikeouts in 82 plate appearances to go along with 5 doubles and 5 home runs.
May began well as the corner infielder went 10-27 over the first seven games with 3 walks, a double and 2 home runs. After a brief 0-6 stint over two games with 4 walks, Hessman caught fire once again, going 18-46 with 6 home runs including three games in a row from the 27th-29th. After going 0-3 with a walk on the 30th he went 1-4 with a home run and 2 more walks to finish out the month with a .349/.465/.723 line to go with 4 doubles and 9 home runs. He walked 16 times and struck out 23 times in 101 plate appearances as he listed his walk rate and lowered his strikeout rate while hitting for the big time power that he is known for.
As hot as May was, June began just as cold as he went 2-21 in the first week, though he did have 6 walks and a home run. Hessman ran off a hitting streak of four games from the 8th-14th, going 5-14 2ith 2 walks and 2 doubles. He would go into another slump after that though, going just 5-47 through the 29th. On the 30th he went 3-4 with a home run and 3 RBI against Indianapolis to finish the month. In June he would finish with a .174/.260/.349 line with 10 walks and 31 strikeouts in 96 plate appearances. His walk rate was still solid on the month, but his strikeout rate jumped up to very high levels and his power output dropped off.
July continued with the slumps as he went 2-17 over his first 6 games before heating up some as he ran off a four game hitting streak, including 3 home runs over two games on the 6th and 8th. On the 20th he would start another hitting streak, going 6-19 over five games before finishing out the month with a 2-16 stretch. In July he hit just .225/.293/.438 with 9 walks and 28 strikeouts in 99 plate appearances. His power up slightly from June, but his walk and strikeout rates remained about the same as they were as he struggled to hit for the month.
The final five weeks of the season started out slowly as Hessman went 6-48 from August 1st through the 19th against Rochester. He really turned things on from there to finish out the season, having 2 hits in each of the next four games and finished the final two weeks going 16-42, including a 3-4 game that included a walk, 2 home runs and 5 RBI on the 31st against Indianapolis. Despite the hot stretch to end the month he would hit just .244/.327/.489 in 104 plate appearances with 11 walks and 26 strikeouts to finish his season.
Season Stats
| PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| 482 | 420 | 60 | 101 | 32 | 0 | 25 | 56 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 134 | .240 | .328 | .495 |
Overall Thoughts
Mike Hessman was a boost to the Louisville offense as he provided big time power for the offense. He was very inconsistent, as high strikeout guys often are. He finished tied for 4th in the league with former Red Danny Dorn. His 32 doubles finished tied for 5th in the league as well. At age 35, he isn’t a part of the future for the Reds, but he was fun to watch in the 2013 season.
For more player season review, you can see the entire list here.