Cincinnati Reds General Manager Dick Williams was on 1530AM with Mo Egger earlier today. While the discussion covered many aspects, one that came up was when Egger noted that while limited in playing time, Phillip Ervin performed well with the Reds in his opportunities. You can listen to the entire interview below. And you should – there’s some good stuff in there.
For Phillip Ervin, he played in 28 games during the year, but only had 64 plate appearances. He hit .259/.317/.448 with the Reds, mostly coming in August and September. He saw time at all three spots in the outfield, but mostly in center. 63 of his 109 innings in the field came as the Reds center fielder.
It’s the center field position that may have been giving Dick Williams the idea that Phillip Ervin could be the teams 5th outfielder. Here’s what he said about the idea:
I thought he looked good when he was up here (Cincinnati). I was playing around with a scenario earlier where he was the 5th outfielder. He can probably play center the best of the group. You can see mixing him in with the group of the other four. Or maybe you decide one of those guys needs to be playing every day in Triple-A.
It would be a rather interesting situation for the Reds to carry all five outfielders in 2018. Being able to rotate the guys and get everyone playing time could have many benefits. Billy Hamilton struggles to remain healthy and, well, to hit. While rest may not help him hit better, giving him an off day against unfavorable match ups could improve his overall numbers and lessen the chance of injury. That would lead to a downgrade on defense, though, as Hamilton is elite.
Of the same token, Adam Duvall has shown two straight seasons of decline in the second half. And while the power plays well, he really struggles to get on base. Mixing in Jesse Winker, who has done nothing but get on base since he was drafted, could help balance out the offense some. Picking good match ups for Duvall, Winker and Schebler could be worth a small improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
Now, where that would leave Phillip Ervin is a big question. After Bryan Price stated that it would be a good time to see what Ervin could do in center in the absence of Billy Hamilton, it took all of two days of playing before he saw the bench for a week straight before even appearing in another game. Even short on options and saying he’d give him a look, Price failed to find playing time for the 24-year-old.
If the team is going to need a true back up center fielder, at least when looking at internal options, it seems that Phillip Ervin is the best option to fill that role. However, if he’s going to get four plate appearances a week, it makes more sense for him to be in Triple-A. If something happens to Billy Hamilton and you need someone to play every day, then you can make the move to call up and play Ervin. In a “day off” scenario for Hamilton you can slide Schebler to center. While he’s not a true center fielder, if you put him there with a big ground ball guy like Luis Castillo on the mound, who also misses tons of bats, the odds are you don’t need him to make multiple plays out of his range.