The Cincinnati Reds beat writers with the Cincinnati Enquirer recently sat down with Dick Williams. The Reds General Manager and President of Baseball Operations took the time to answer many questions from Zach Buchanan and C. Trent Rosecrans. There’s a lot of really good information in the interview, so be sure to read it after you finish up here.
The one question and answer that stood out to me involved Nick Senzel, the organizations top prospects. A previous question led to an answer about Williams stating he preferred to keep Eugenio Suarez at third base. That led to this question and answer:
Cincinnati Enquirer: Do you envision, at least in spring, everyone seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion that Nick Senzel will play in the majors at some point next year, which probably isn’t crazy, considering how fast he’s moving… Do you envision giving NIck Senzel time at second base because it sounds like you’d be hesitant to mess with what is a really good thing at third with Suarez.
Dick Williams: I think it’s fair to say that with Nick, we need to keep our options open with him because we will eventually want that bat in the lineup, so we need to find out what our options are with him. I think it’s most likely second or third, he also can play short, but I wouldn’t characterize it as a primary position for him. I’m sure he could play the corners, if needed, if we wanted to go there, as well. But, we don’t want to bounce him around too much. I’m a believer that players of that caliber they play one spot, they’re going to continue to develop, they’re going to get comfortable, they’re going to hit — Nick doesn’t need like three months of games in left field to be able to go out there, I think, and go out there and play.
Second base. Third base. Left field. Right field. Maybe shortstop in a pinch. Perhaps the team has a plan that they just aren’t ready to go public with yet. That would be understandable if the options were to try and move a current starter in a trade over the offseason that would open up a spot for Nick Senzel. You aren’t going to publicly state that plan and put the team in a bad situation with a player and at a disadvantage in trying to move that player as the other team knows now that you NEED to move that player.
With all of that said, I agree with Williams. Nick Senzel is athletic enough that if you do decide to move him to a position that he hasn’t really played before, it isn’t likely to be a long transition. In college, Senzel played second base before moving over to third. In his junior season he even saw some limited action at shortstop. Much like Suarez, shortstop doesn’t sound like it’s going to be an actual option except in a pinch until the team can get another shortstop on the roster from the minor leagues. But, it does seem that perhaps second base or even a corner outfield spot could be an option if the team is going to get both Suarez and Senzel into the same lineup.
The breakout of Eugenio Suarez in 2017 changed things a bit for the Reds. His steps forward both offensively and defensively put him at a different level of third baseman. Fangraphs WAR ranked him as the 6th best third baseman in baseball. At his age, players tend to continue getting better for another few seasons. Despite all of that, I’m still of the belief that if one of the two players should be moved to another spot, it should be Suarez. And that spot should be second base. The position has a lot of other internal options. Scooter Gennett, Alex Blandino and Shed Long are all either there now, or on the verge of being there in the next year or two. None of them, however, seem to have quite the upside of Suarez as a 25+ homer, good defending second baseman that he brings to the table.