On Tuesday we found out that Jesse Winker would be taking over the right field position for the Cincinnati Reds while Scott Schebler dealt with a shoulder injury. That night the 23-year-old outfielder made a big splash by going 1-4 with a walk and a 421-foot home run. After hitting just five home runs in Louisville over the last two seasons in 795 plate appearances, the over-the-fence power was the one mark that was on the “needs to improve on” side of the ledger for Winker, and that long home run showed that maybe the power he had shown before reaching Triple-A was still in there. Later in the game he hit another ball that went over the fence, but it was caught and brought back by Starling Marte.
While in Louisville this year, Jesse Winker was working on using his lower half more in his swing to get more power to show up in games. It didn’t start showing up in Triple-A immediately. The power did show up on Tuesday. It showed up again on Wednesday, too. The right fielder went 2-5 with a solo home run that almost left the entire stadium in Pittsburgh, landing in the top row of the right field seats. It went a projected 396 feet and matched his big league home run total with his Triple-A total despite just 31 plate appearances with the Reds this season.
The home run power has been very nice to see from Jesse Winker in the early going, for sure. The improvements on defense, however, have shown up, too. Over the past few years he’s taken his defense to another level. While he’s still not going to be confused with an elite level defender, he’s improved across the board. His reads are better, his arm strength has improved, he’s a step faster. In the 1st inning he made a nice diving grab to take away extra-bases on a ball that winds up a hit more often than it’s caught according to Statcast.
Robert Stephenson puts together a nice start
After really struggling with his control in his previous start, Robert Stephenson bounced back on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh for the Reds. He left the game in the 6th inning with a runner on and two outs, holding a 2-0 lead. That runner would come around to score and officially finalizing his line at: 5.2 innings with just two hits allowed, two walks and four strikeouts. Bryan Price pulled him after just 81 pitches thrown, choosing to go with what he felt was a better match up with Michael Lorenzen.
While his control wasn’t great on the night, it was a big improvement and much more like the Robert Stephenson who had been throwing plenty of strikes in Louisville over the month before he was recalled to Cincinnati. He also kept the baseball in the park, which has been a struggle in the 2017 season as well, even when he was in Triple-A. Generally speaking, if you’re going to throw strikes and keep the ball in the yard, you will find success. That worked out well for Stephenson on Wednesday. Hopefully he can carry that forward the rest of the season.