CINCINNATI -- When the Reds dealt left fielder Adam Duvall before last season¡¯s non-waiver Trade Deadline and moved on from speedy center fielder Billy Hamilton in the offseason, it signaled the club¡¯s willingness to sacrifice some defensive strength to gain more offense.
Just under a month into the 2019 season, the outfield has yet to click offensively, but the dip defensively also has been noticeable. According to FanGraphs, Cincinnati¡¯s outfield entered Wednesday ranked 28th with -6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), and in Statcast¡¯s Outs Above Average data, it was 20th at -1.
Last season, Reds outfielders¡¯ 14 Outs Above Average ranked fifth in the Majors. That had everything to do with Hamilton's 16 OAA. Manager David Bell has been pleased overall with the collective work of Yasiel Puig, Jesse Winker, Scott Schebler and Matt Kemp. Phillip Ervin joined the group on Tuesday, when Kemp went on the 10-day injured list with a broken left rib.
¡°We can only be as good as we can be. As long as we do that, I feel good about it,¡± Bell said. ¡°With our positioning, our effort, our reads off the bat, our breaks, our routes, everything we can work on and we can control, if we do that -- and I will say that we have for the most part. Just like every team, there¡¯s been plays we want to make that we haven¡¯t. So it hasn¡¯t been perfect, but I do think we¡¯ve maximized -- in a lot of cases -- how good we can be out there. I will take that. I do think that is more than good enough.¡±
During Tuesday's 7-6 Reds win over the Braves, outfield defensive issues contributed to losing their lead in the middle innings.
¡°I think there were plays that we look at closely from last night and say, ¡®Can our positioning be better? Can everything we can control be better?'¡± Bell said.
One of the plays that received extra scrutiny postgame came during a three-run top of the sixth inning for Atlanta that lost a 3-1 lead and knocked starting pitcher Sonny Gray from the game. With a runner on first base and no outs, Josh Donaldson lifted a high fly ball near the foul line. Winker made a long run and sliding catch attempt, but the ball bounced over him and rolled into the corner for an RBI double.
Winker was positioned well off the line and almost in left-center field. According to Statcast, he had an 85 percent catch probability, as the ball was lifted with a 47-degree launch angle. Winker isn¡¯t known for his speed and had to cover a distance of 108 feet, but he had 5.9 seconds to get there. The play had an .020 Expected Batting Average.
¡°We take a close look. Were we at the starting point that we needed to be? Maybe we were over in the gap a little bit too much,¡± Bell said. ¡°I think we might have been a step or two or three, we might have been a little bit over to the gap a little bit more. Again, if we continue to work and the effort is there, with positioning we can be really good. I think we¡¯ve shown signs of that. For the most part, we¡¯ve been really happy with all of those areas.¡±
Iglesias becoming double threat
Since moving from a bench role to being the regular shortstop for the Reds, José Iglesias has been as advertised as a sterling defensive player. But Iglesias has also delivered some key hits and came into Wednesday¡¯s game 10-for-28 (.357) over his previous eight games.
When second baseman Scooter Gennett went down with a groin injury near the end of camp that is expected to keep him out for most of the first half, the Reds moved shortstop Jose Peraza into his spot. Iglesias, signed after Spring Training began to be a role player, took Peraza¡¯s place. In the early portion of the season, Bell sees a lot of a well-known former shortstop and teammate in Iglesias.
¡°He loves playing defense, and it really shows. The other part of his game, at his age, I believe that he¡¯s going to continue to get better as an offensive player and I think we¡¯re seeing that,¡± Bell said. ¡°A long time ago, I played with Omar Vizquel, who was a great defensive player. Later in his career, all the work that he did on his offense started to pay off and he turned himself into a good offensive player. I see some similarities there between the two.¡±