In 2014 Ryan Wright got off to a strong start in Bakersfield. In the first half of the season the second baseman hit .311/.345/.498 with the Blaze and earned a promotion to Double-A. Things with Pensacola went about as poorly as possible. Wright hit .205/.248/.288, struggling in just about every area offensively.
For as bad as things went last year with the Blue Wahoos, they’ve gone about as well as they could this year. The right handed hitter has three doubles and three triples already, hitting .318/.375/.727 in seven games played.
In 2014 he struggled with plate discipline, particularly in the second half at the Double-A level. He walked 10 times and had 51 strikeouts. He’s never had a high walk rate, but he’s always been a good contact hitter. That went away as he saw his strikeout rate balloon to 22% at the level. He’d never topped 15% in any previous season.
It’s early, but to this point in the season he’s back to making contact at a high rate. Wright has struck out just two times in 24 plate appearances. That’s 8% of the time he’s stepped to the plate. He’s never had a rate that low, and it’s not likely to stay THAT low, but it’s more in line with where his career rate has been than what he showed last season at the same level.
Wright coming back and having a strong season would be a big thing for him and for the Reds. Prior to arriving in Pensacola and struggling last season he was a career .285 hitter. If Wright can continue hitting as he has, or even close to it and return to form, the Reds would pick up another middle infield prospect and Wright could start pushing towards a job with the big league club.
There’s probably not an opening as a starter soon with Cozart and Phillips locked into their contracts for a while, but having a guy able to come off of the bench who can make good contact and play around the infield some (Wright has spent time exclusively at second base as a pro, but he played third base, shortstop, left field and right field while in college at Louisville) is always a role teams are looking to fill on their roster.