The trade deadline is approaching and the rumors of a trade of Jay Bruce are gaining steam. Bruce can be a free agent at the end of the year if a team declines his option, or he could still have all of the 2017 season remaining on his contract for a team who is willing to pick up the option. With the season that Bruce is having, and where the Cincinnati Reds are in their rebuild, trading him makes a lot of sense.
If the Reds right fielder is traded, it leaves open a spot in the outfield. The organization could go in a few different ways when it comes to filling the position. Top position prospect Jesse Winker could certainly be one option, but Scott Schebler could also be an option that the team chooses to look at.
What gives Schebler the advantage right now is that he’s already on the 40-man roster and it wouldn’t risk the team losing a player by creating a roster spot that they would have to do in order to bring up Winker. What also helps Schebler is that he’s been hitting the cover off of the ball for the last two months.
Schebler struggled with the big league club to start the year as he split playing time with Adam Duvall, then eventually began losing playing time later in April before being sent back to Triple-A in the second week of May. Initially he struggled with the Bats, hitting just .200/.226/.300 in his first 20 games, walking just three times and he struck out 21 times. It wasn’t a good sign.
Then the calendar flipped to June and everything changed. In the 50 games since then the outfielder has gone out and hit .346/.411/.644. That is good for an OPS of 1.055. In the 214 plate appearances he’s hit 12 doubles, six triples and 11 home runs to go along with 13 walks and 34 strikeouts. The turn around has been incredibly impressive.
The power has really come around, and it’s been done in a league that plays out as a neutral hitting environment and a home ballpark that plays slightly pitcher friendly. Schebler’s walk rate is still a bit lower than you’d like to see. His 13 walks in 214 plate appearances is below-average, sitting at just 6%. Two of those walks were intentional, which would drop his walk rate even lower. He has also cut down on his strikeout rate though, striking out in just 16% of his plate appearances since June began.
It’s highly unlikely that Scott Schebler is going to come back to the big leagues and OPS over 1.000. It wouldn’t be surprising though to see him come back and perform far better than he did earlier in the season when he wasn’t getting normal playing time. He was always viewed better than he had been performing early in the season. At this point, if the Reds find themselves in need of an outfielder to fill in, he may very well be the best option in the short term. It would give the organization a chance to look at him in an everyday role and see how he can perform, while also giving Jesse Winker a little more time in Triple-A.