Michael Siani’s 2022 breakout season just got better as the Cincinnati Reds have added him to the 40-man roster and called him up to join the big league team after needing to replace outfielder Nick Senzel on the roster after he broke a toe when he collided with the wall in center last night against the Red Sox.
Cincinnati would have needed to protect Siani from the Rule 5 draft this offseason, so adding him to the 40-man roster now doesn’t change much from the organizational standpoint other than his salary goes up for the next two weeks instead of in April next year when the season began.
For Siani, the 2022 season is seemingly a continuation of the progress he made in the Arizona Fall League in 2021. While he only played in 14 games in the AFL, he walked more often than he struck out and saw his strikeout rate drop off from where it had been during the regular season. While he didn’t walk more than he struck out in 2022, his strikeout rate dropped from 25% in 2021 in High-A to 16.7% in his time with Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville while he maintained an above-average walk rate. Click here to see his career minor league stats.
With the improvement in his contact rate came an improvement across the board in his output. He set new career highs in doubles (19), triples (7), and home runs (14). His 14 home runs were hit in 129 games and matched the number of home runs he had hit in his career that had spanned 264 games entering the season. Long known for his speed and defense, Siani also set a career high with 52 stolen bases in 64 attempts (81% success rate).
While he’s mostly played center field in his career, he’s fully capable of playing in both left and right field. His arm is also an asset in the outfield as he’s picked up 38 assists in 357 games played at the minor league level.
Has the corresponding 40-man move been announced yet? I thought someone had to be moved off.
They had a spot open.
Love it. If he can OPS .680-.700 and play strong D he will be the starting CF’er going forward or at least platoon there with maybe Fairchild (who I also have always liked and is also a very good CF’er). Reds aren’t paying for a decent CF’er next year IMO.
His high MLB comp would be guys like Kiermaier, Pillar and Michael Taylor. His floor would be like Albert Almora.
Kiermaier would be the closest comp to his actual game. He’s on base and defense over power.
Should steal way more bases than any of those guys. For people who have spent so long in a low-steals era, I think it’s worth remembering that for a lead off guy (and he’s a classic lead off guy), steals are almost a stealth slugging percentage.
He’s not ready, but there’s little downside here as he needed to be added to the 40 anyway.
New rules re: the shift, throwing to the 1B and base size should accentuate value inna player like Siani. Just might be the right place at the right time.
Just have to wonder how much his shoulder injury in 2021 slowed his progress during that regular season. He certainly made great strides this year. Congrats to Michael
Surprised he got the call before Hopkins but where Hopkins hasn’t played in a few days I’m assuming this confirms he’s hurt
Hopkins also isn’t really a CF. He’d be notably weaker than Senzel out there.
Fairchild and Friedl can handle CF
BB King once said, of The Edge, “Everybody says he’s pretty good. Everybody can’t be wrong.”
Good luck, Michael Sinai!
Next year’s lineup could see a whole lot of youth at some point.
Opening day ages:
C … T Stephenson … 26
1B … C Encar-Strand … 23
2B … J India … 26
SS … EDLC … 21
3B … S Steer … 25
LF … J Fraley … 27
CF … M Siani … 23
SP … N Lodolo … 25
SP …G Ashcraft … 25
SP … H Greene … 23
CL … A Diaz … 26
The bench could also have a lot of 24 ~ 28 year olds: Barrero, Hopkins, Friedl, Senzel, Fairchild, Aquino, Lopez
Funny how people here keep forgetting about Votto. Who, if he has a big year, may postpone the full youth movement in ’24, as well
I think he was just quoting the ages of the young players but fickle Reds fans would be dumb to count JV out. I bet he bounces back with a decent year and hopefully Bell will have the sense to rest him frequently.
Doesn’t matter who you call up until you have MANAGEMENT that is all into WINNING. Than toss half of those SOTFBALL throwing relievers to the curb. And trade the TIN man Senzel for another SORE ARM pitcher(GM trait).
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