Yesterday saw the Cincinnati Reds send Nick Senzel to the minor leagues. Then a few hours later the Reds saw Scooter Gennett injure himself in the Major League game. For the Reds, the question would become who would play in place of Gennett if he had to miss an extended period of time. Nick Senzel was moved to second base last season to groom him for the position in the future. This offseason he was moved to center field to try and get his bat into the lineup in 2019.
Well this morning it was revealed that Scooter Gennett would be out for several months with a groin injury. The extent of time being missed really changes the potential decisions that could or should be made. Maybe. The Reds have options up the middle, and they’ve come out and stated that Jose Peraza will move to second base and Jose Iglesias will slide into the shortstop position. I would imagine, though no one has said anything that I’ve seen about this – that we will see Derek Dietrich get some time at second base, too, and when he’s there that Jose Peraza will go back over to shortstop.
Where, of course, does that leave Nick Senzel? Well, for now it leaves him in Triple-A Louisville where it’s been reported by C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic that he will play center field. And there’s the rub. And the question at hand. If Nick Senzel in Triple-A for service time reasons and we will see him by mid-April? If so, it’s going to be a bad look on the Reds.
But, what if the Cincinnati Reds have seen enough from Nick Senzel to believe that he could actually play center long term? Center fielders that can hit are still rather rare in baseball. And I don’t think there’s much doubt that Senzel is going to hit. But if the Reds think there are a few things he needs to round out in terms of defense out there, and that’s why he’s actually heading to the minor leagues, then there could be a solid reason for keeping him down despite the Scooter Gennett injury.
That could still leave open plenty of questions about who is going to play where in the future if everyone develops. Jose Siri, Taylor Trammell – if Senzel is in center, do they fight for spots in the corners? Who plays second base next year for the Reds? Rosters and teams are always moving. Free agency, trades, development – all of those things could come into play here. Time will tell how this all plays out. Right now, it’s tough to make sense of why Senzel is going to remain in Louisville other than to gain an extra year of team control. But there’s a chance there’s more to it than that, too.