published on April 25, 2024 in gacor

C. Notes: The Reds lone All-Star, Andrew Abbotts ace-like start and much more

CINCINNATI — It was no surprise that Alexis Díaz is an All-Star, and weirdly, it was also not too surprising that he was the only All-Star for the first-place Reds.

In the convoluted All-Star voting process, the Reds had five players in the top 10 (or top 20 for outfielders) at their position, but none higher than Matt McLain’s fourth place among shortstops. Joey Votto was eighth among first basemen despite having played just three games when final voting was announced. Jonathan India (second base) and Nick Senzel (third base) finished 10th at their positions and TJ Friedl was 18th among outfielders.

Starting position players were picked by fan voting, while pitchers and reserves were selected from voting by players, managers and coaches and by Major League Baseball, with all 30 teams needing to be represented.

Díaz, who has converted 23 of his 24 save opportunities, was an easy selection for the Reds. His save total is second only to San Francisco’s Camilo Doval in the National League. Díaz has a 2.19 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched.

“What an incredible representative for the Cincinnati Reds and for our team, not only the way he’s pitched but the way he goes about it every single day. He’s an incredible teammate,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Probably the most impressive thing about Alexis is he had a good season as a rookie and he was not in the least bit satisfied. He found ways to get better in his second season. He has been better to this point of the year than last year. That says a lot.”

It is Díaz’s first All-Star appearance, but the third for his family. His brother Edwin is a two-time All-Star, including last season. Alexis said he called his brother as soon as he got the news.

“I can’t wait to have fun and see what the show is like,” Alexis Díaz said according to the Reds’ official interpreter, Jorge Merlos, who will also head to Seattle. “My brother has given me a couple of details of what it is like, how the process is, what the process is, but I just can’t wait to see what the show looks like.”

Díaz was a shoo-in to make the National League squad in Seattle but isn’t the only deserving Red, just perhaps the most deserving.

Here are the other possibilities and players who could still get a call because of injuries and other needs for replacements:

• IF Matt McLain: The Braves’ Orlando Arcia won the voting for a starting spot and the man he replaced in Atlanta, the Cubs’ Dansby Swanson, was selected as the backup. Swanson leads all shortstops in fWAR (2.9), with McLain fourth (1.9).

McLain, though, has played in just 43 games to Swanson’s 81.

• IF Spencer Steer: The Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado won the fan voting, making it tougher for those having better seasons to make the squad. Arenado, of course, has a track record that makes him a worthy choice, especially coming off a season that saw him finish third in voting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player. The Braves’ Austin Riley is the reserve.

Steer’s started 47 games at first base, 22 at third and seven in left field (as well as three games as the DH). He’s hitting .283/.374/.502 and hit his team-best 14th home run in Sunday’s victory over the Padres.

• OF TJ Friedl: According to FanGraphs’ WAR, the voters got the three starters correct, as Ronald Acuña Jr. (4.6), Mookie Betts (3.7) and Corbin Carroll (3.6) are the top three in fWAR.

The player fourth in fWAR, San Diego’s Juan Soto (3.4), is a reserve. The other two outfield reserves — Nick Castellanos (1.5) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1.3) — are both behind Friedl (2.3) in fWAR.

Ahead of Friedl in fWAR among National League outfielders are the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. (3.0), the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo (2.6) and the Brewers’ Christian Yelich (2.5).

Of those ahead of Friedl, only Tatis, a right fielder, has more defensive WAR than Friedl, a true center fielder.

• IF Elly De La Cruz: ESPN’s All-Star Selection Show ended with host Nicole Briscoe calling De La Cruz a snub, saying she wants to see him play. Analyst Jeff Passan seemed to agree and then Karl Ravech then led off “Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown” saying, “We’re all about Elly De La Cruz, as well. We agree with you.”

Relief pitchers who aren’t closers rarely get All-Star nods and the Reds only have one starter from the Opening Day rotation on the active roster and their most successful starter, Andrew Abbott, has just six starts, albeit six successful starts.

“Our entire team, they’re all having great numbers,” Díaz said according to Merlos. “You could think that they should be in the All-Star Game. Unfortunately because of all the votes, they weren’t able to go too, but any one of them could’ve easily gone to the All-Star Game.”

Four former Reds starting pitchers, and another one drafted by the Reds, made the All-Star Game: Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Kevin Gausman and Michael Lorenzen are all American League All-Stars. Josiah Gray, taken in the second round of the 2018 draft, now with the Nationals, is a National League All-Star.

Ace Abbott

Andrew Abbott gets a nice reception after leaving in the eighth inning. (David Kohl / USA Today)

Abbott, the Reds rookie who had just made his sixth big-league start, was asked after Sunday’s 4-3 victory over the Padres if he was surprised by his early success in the big leagues.

“No,” he said.

Abbott said some other things after that, but the fact that he looked more surprised at the question than the fact that the Reds have won all six of his starts and he has just a 1.21 ERA after six big-league starts.

“He came here and believed in himself. He respects the league and his opponent. He respects his place in the clubhouse. He also knows what he’s capable of and won’t back down,” Bell said. “A lot of that is ability and stuff and he worked hard to have good pitches. It’s a mindset. That’s what it takes here. There’s times throughout the game, it looks in the end like an easy start. There’s times I watch him behind in the count with a couple runners on and he continues to stay with it and be consistent and do what he knows he needs to do to be successful. That takes a lot of toughness and says a lot about him.”

Abbott came into Sunday’s game against San Diego with a 1.21 ERA and left it with a 1.21 ERA, allowing a solo homer to Ha-Seong Kim, the final batter he faced in his 7 2/3 innings.

Abbott recorded both his longest outing so far and also a career-best 12 strikeouts. Kim not only homered off of Abbott, but he was the only Padre to earn a walk.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Abbott’s 1.21 ERA is the second-lowest for a pitcher’s first six career starts (since 1912) behind only another Reds lefty, Tom Browning (0.0957) from 1984 to 1985.

Right-hander Wayne Simpson had a 1.35 ERA after six starts in 1970.

“I think it’s all the hard work we’ve all put in,” Abbott said of his success. “We’ve all gotten here. I kept telling myself, ‘Getting here is the dream but staying here is the lifestyle that you want.’ You want to go in and do your hard work every day and just put your head down and go. That’s forever been my motto and it will continue to be.”

Abbott’s 7 2/3 innings was the longest start by any Reds pitcher this year and his 12 strikeouts were a career-high.

“He’s pitching like he’s been here a long time,” said Reds catcher Luke Maile. “Obviously, he’s really good, but it’s just the power of being able to throw four pitches in the zone kind of when you want to. That’s probably what stood out to me.”

The Reds have won all six of Abbott’s starts and four have come after a Reds loss.

“Well, winning is very, very important. I think it’s just better to realize they’re playing well behind me,” Abbott said. “Matt (McLain’s) play today, TJ’s catch in the outfield, (Jake) Fraley’s catch down the right field line — all of those help me go deep into games, they help me be successful on the mound. I think the six wins is more of a team thing than just myself. It takes all of us to win a ballgame and I think that’s what speaks true.”

Against the Padres’ billion-dollar lineup, Abbott not only struck out 12, but he also got 25 swings-and-misses. Not only that, he had multiple whiffs on all four of his pitches: four-seam fastball (eight), changeup (eight), curveball (six) and sweeper (three).

“When I have four that were all in the strike zone, it kind of gives them a 25 percent chance if they’re guessing to get it correct,” Abbott said. “The only one who got it correct was Kim and he put a good swing on it and that was that.”

Been caught stealing

One of the biggest reasons for the Reds’ success has been their base running and particularly the stolen base.

The Reds’ total of 94 steals is the second-most in baseball and the team’s highest since 2017 (120). But in June, the team turned it up, stealing 50 bases, the highest number in a calendar month (and a 30-day one at that) since September of 1912 (53).

The Padres came into the series obviously keenly attuned to the Reds’ running game and did as good of a job as any team has this year of neutralizing it with a mixture of pickoff attempts, pitchouts and just a general awareness of the running game. The Padres limited the Reds to two stolen bases in the three-game series. Two Reds were picked off and another two were caught stealing.

San Diego also kept a close eye on the Reds on the bases when the ball went into the outfield; the Padres’ outfielders got the ball in quickly and with good throws, keeping the Reds from getting extra cheap bases.

The week that was

For a team coming off a 12-game winning streak, losing three straight was quite a shock, but the Reds snapped that streak Tuesday in Baltimore and then beat the Orioles again the next night to take the series. Back home, the Reds took two of three from the Padres. The two losses did allow the Brewers to come back and tie the Reds in the standings.

The week ahead

The Reds play four games against the Nationals, including an 11:05 a.m. start on July 4, before a showdown with the Brewers in Milwaukee leading into the All-Star break.

The Reds have a hole in their rotation for Tuesday’s game. The only active starters on the team’s 40-man roster in the minors are Levi Stoudt at Triple A and Lyon Richardson in Double A. Richardson probably isn’t ready yet and Stoudt started Saturday and is still ramping up after his time on the injured list with a ribcage injury. Connor Phillips just made his first start at Triple A on Friday. Christian Roa pitched Thursday and Michael Mariot started Sunday, leaving 28-year-old right-hander Brett Kennedy as the likely starter. Kennedy was signed out of independent ball earlier this year. He made six starts for the Padres in 2018 and is 2-2 with a 3.71 ERA in eight starts for the Louisville Bats.

Injury updates

• RHP Hunter Greene (right hip) and LHP Nick Lodolo (left calf tendinosis) have reported to the Reds’ complex in Goodyear, Ariz., and are expected to return in August.

• RHP Derek Law (right elbow flexor strain) was activated Sunday.

• RHP Tony Santillan (low back stress fracture) traveled with the team to Washington and is expected to return this week.

• RHP Ben Lively (right pectoral muscle strain) is expected to start Sunday in Milwaukee.

• RHP Tejay Antone (right elbow flexor strain) has been throwing off the mound in Goodyear.

Minor league roundup

• Triple-A Louisville (42-36): On Sunday, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit his first home run since June 10. In the 15 games between homers, Encarnacion-Strand hit just .200/.290/.267 with 16 strikeouts and seven walks in 69 plate appearances. He is still hitting .321/.393/.625 on the season.

• Double-A Chattanooga (40-32): RHP Lyon Richardson allowed just one hit in his three scoreless innings Saturday, lowering his ERA to 2.19 in Double A. Of the four other pitchers who followed — Manuel Cachutt (2 1/3 innings), Donovan Bennett (1 1/3 innings), Ryan Meisinger (1 1/3 innings) and Vin Timpanelli (one inning) — none allowed a single hit. Richardson missed all of 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Because of that, the Reds have been very careful with his innings. He hasn’t pitched more than four innings in a start this season. After starting the season at Class A, he was promoted to Chattanooga where he has 46 strikeouts and 20 walks in 37 innings.

• High-A Dayton (39-36): Entering the last day of May, SS Edwin Arroyo was batting .182. In 29 games since then, he’s hitting .309/.369/.500 with three homers, 25 strikeouts and eight walks in 122 plate appearances. He also has seven stolen bases in that time and hasn’t been caught stealing.

• Class A Daytona (36-37): Entering the last day of May, 3B Sal Stewart was hitting .207. In 25 games since then, he’s hitting .340/.414/.577 with five homers, 20 strikeouts and 13 walks in 111 plate appearances.

(Top photo of Alexis Díaz: David Kohl / USA Today)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k29tam9mZ3xzfJFsZmlvX2V%2FcL7EnapmmZyaxaq%2FjJ2gmrJdlrmtedKtmKtlkaOxs7HWZpibmp%2BpwXA%3D