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    Nick Senzel (Photo: Doug Gray)
    Nick Senzel (Photo: Doug Gray)

    Report: Reds to call up Nick Senzel on Friday

    Doug Gray 15

    The Cincinnati Reds are contemplating calling up top prospect Nick Senzel according to Jon Heyman. That’s not much of a surprise given that he’s been ready for the Major Leagues for a while now, and that their current center fielder is hitting .135 on the season. UPDATE: Jonathan Mayo is reporting that Nick Senzel will be called up for the home game in Cincinnati on Friday.

    Of course, one of the reasons the team stated when they sent Nick Senzel to minor league camp in late March was that he needed to work on his defense. That, of course, comes despite the fact that manager David Bell called Senzel the best defender the team had in center field during the spring. And with a grand total of six games played for Louisville this season, the learning curve must be quite small. Or it’s all a way to allow the team to have manipulated his service time. Just like the way the Cubs did with Kris Bryant who also learned how to play defense in a week of Triple-A before being called up his rookie season.

    Of course, the Cincinnati Reds have an upcoming home stand this weekend. Nick Senzel will sell some extra tickets if you call him up. And the Reds certainly could use some extra ticket sales. Excluding opening day, the Reds have averaged 12,333 tickets sold per home game this season. While I certainly don’t think the team would call him up to sell tickets like they did with Homer Bailey back in 2007, it doesn’t hurt. And assuming he does get called up this weekend, the ticket sales aspect is probably why he isn’t being called up today rather than on Friday.

    Monday night saw the Louisville Bats beat up on the Toledo Mud Hens pitching staff. Cincinnati Reds top prospect Nick Senzel got in on the action as he racked up three hits, including his first home run of the season, and score four runs.

     

    As you can see in the video, he didn’t miss any of the baseball. After returning from the injured list, Nick Senzel had gotten a hit in each of his first five games. But he only had one hit in each game. On Monday night he racked up three of them to push his line on the season to .296/.345/.444. It also extended his hitting streak, dating back to last season, to 17 games with the Louisville Bats. In that stretch he’s hit .390/.420/.593 in 81 plate appearances.

    Nick Senzel isn’t the only Bat that went off, though. Brian O’Grady is on an absolute tear for Louisville, and he just kept that going on Monday night. He went 4-6 with a double and a home run. The 26-year-old is now hitting an insane .365/.462/.692 through 15 games played with the Louisville Bats in 2019.

     

    Tyler Stephenson, Luis Gonzalez provide some pop for Chattanooga

    Tyler Stephenson had a nice day for the Chattanooga Lookouts, though the team didn’t have quite the same kind of day that the Bats did on Monday. The catching prospect went 2-4 with a long home run that hit high off of the scoreboard in Chattanooga. It was his second home run of the season and went an estimated 430 feet. When the day was over he was hitting .273/.344/.436 with 6 walks and 8 strikeouts through 16 games.

    Infielder Luis Gonzalez got in on the action for the Lookouts, too. And he’s been getting in on it all season. The 24-year-old doubled twice on Monday afternoon for Chattanooga. He’s now hitting .326/.380/.478. Like Stephenson, he’s rarely struck out this season, with just 7 on the year to go along with 3 walks in 17 games played. He’s rocking a 6-game hitting streak, currently.

    Also in Chattanooga yesterday, outfielder TJ Friedl was placed on the 7-day injured list with a shoulder injury. He suffered the injury after stealing second base on Sunday afternoon.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    15 Responses

    2. The rumor was Senzel getting the call on May 13 or 14. I guess the CF situation in Cincinnati is getting more dire, or pathetic.
      It would be nice to see Vanmeter called up at same time and put him at 2B. He would take Farmer’s spot. That could relegate Peraza as trade chip.

    3. This says as much, or more, about how they feel about Ervin as its does Schebler. Ervin hasnt even hardly gotten a sniff during Schebs nightmarish slump at the plate.
      Do they send Ervin down or Schebler??

    4. I’m hoping he doesn’t get called this week. We are seeing the Bats in Indy on Sunday.

    5. Don’t have to set the bar too high now he’s replacing Schebler vs scooter. If senzel is the 6/7th best offensive performer on the team- the team will still be better.

      Also this postering makes it very doubtful we see Vanmeter anytime soon.

      1. Since Van Meter is basically the same skill set as Dietrich I don’t see them putting both on the active roster. Dietrich, hitting .207, might have a tough time surviving Scooter coming back when he does. Ervin will probably go for an active roster spot when Senzel arrives, but they will need a spot for Kemp in a week or so.Guess it could be Farmer but I like the third catcher and eliminating him costs Casali’s bat off the bench. I imagine Blandino or Wood need to go to 60-day DL to open a 40-man spot for Nick. This roster is tight.

        I wonder when Gonzalez and/or Alf-Rod get a promotion replacing Sherman Johnson (hitting below Mendoza) or Trahan at .220.

    6. Not mentioning how incredibly slow Schebler has started is leaving out the main issue, IMO.

      1. The Reds outfield has accumulated the 2nd fewest fan graphs WAR amongst all major league outfields. That being said, they also have an extreme outlier of a BABIP. All non-Reds outfields have a BABIP between 0.259 and 0.344. The Reds OF: 0.217. They’ve been bad, but Puig, Winker, and Schebler are all due for some regression to the mean.

        But hey, whatever needs to happen to get Senzel his promotion, I’m onboard!

    8. I am not as down on Schebler as most. He his a better hitter than his cold start and he has walked a few times to help start rallies. He would be okay over the long run, but most likely won’t get the chance to come around. I agree with Senzel coming up and playing every day, just don’t think Schebler is the one that leaves.

      1. That’s the million dollar question. I think it’ll be Ervin, though. When Kemp is healthy, then I think it’ll be Schebler that goes down.

        1. You have to laugh a bit at all the prognostications once there is time to see how many are accurate. I guess that reveals who has the expertise and who’s firmly entrenched in the peanut gallery or like some – parked somewhere in the middle.

    10. I can’t say enough how much I can’t stand listening to Thom Brennaman. He is nearly as bad as his dad.

      1. Yea I agree. He’s so negative about almost everything and must think we all turn the reds on to hear his opinions on how bad everything is instead of watching the game.

        1. The players don’t like Marty and he is in the Reds Hall of Fame. He appears to be an old school hater. The game has changed Marty and Thom.

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