Chris Denorfia

I know, I know, I qualify as a lurker, and for that I apologize.  But I'm an Oakland A's fan for the most part, and usually spend my time over on AthleticsNation.

In any case, I have no beef with the Reds, and in actuality, I'd love for them to do well this year and in general.  I love Hatteberg from his A's days, I wish Griffey wouldn't get hurt so often, I've always liked Jason LaRue, and I've been watching Austin Kearns since the beginning.  I was sorry to see Wily Mo get traded, but I'm so stoked for Reds fans that Arroyo has been tearing it up, both offensively and defensively.  Those 2 homers he hit were legit bombs.  I hope he keeps up his great year and shows the Red Sox they were stupid to trade him after he gave them the ol' hometown discount.

In any case, I decided to post this diary to ask what's up with Chris Denorfia?  I was searching for possible pickups today in my fantasy league, and I searched by OBP for the 2006 season, and there, at the top of my list, was Chris.  3 appearances going 2/2 with a single, a double and 2 runs scored.  Not so bad, if you ask me.

But he's N/A and appears to have been demoted to AAA.  So what exactly happened on April 8, anyways?  OK, so he was sent to Louisville, but who came up?  And with Griffey going down, why isn't Denorfia back on the roster in Cinci?

Looking at the Reds' transactions, I see that the Reds traded "A Player to be Named Later" for Cody Ross, who's now the 5th outfielder on the Depth Chart, but what does this mean for Denorfia?  Why would they trade for another outfielder when they have Denorfia tearing it up in AAA?

Did they just feel as if he wasn't MLB-ready?  Or is it possible that Denorfia is the player to be named later?  Or do they see Denorfia as a AAAA player?  I mean 2/2 in the big show along with his .977 OPS in AAA this year seem to dictate otherwise.  And last year's .785 OPS in 18 games in the bigs isn't terrible either.  On the contrary, in 20 MLB games over 2 seasons, Cody Ross has managed only a .529 OPS, while batting a measly .182.  

OK, OK, I know what you're thinking: small sample size.  So let's compare the 2005 AAA stats of the two.  These should better tell the story.

Chris Denorfia (Louisville):
90 Games, .310 BA, .391 OBP, .505 SLG, = .896 OPS

Cody Ross (Las Vegas):
115 Games, .267 BA, .348 OBP, .509 SLG, = .857 OPS

Denorfia is 5 months and 8 days older than Ross, but has an additional year on his arbitration "clock" than Ross, it appears.  Both are right handed batters (though Ross throws lefty), so there's no real difference there.  And Denorfia's listed as OF, indicating that he can play all of the OF positions, whereas Ross is listed only as a RF.

So what gives?  Why is Denorfia in AAA still?  It seems he's more deserving of the shot in the bigs than Ross, but to no avail.  So perhaps some of the Red faithful can shed some light on this subject.  Is it possible that this move is only the product of what the Reds think they are supposed to do with a straight-from-high-school former hotshot prospect, rather than a division III college player who has earned it at every level?  Or is there something else going on here that I'm just not aware of, cuz I don't follow the team as closely as you all?

Fill me in, Reds Nation.

[editor's note, by rungood]I should note that much of my interest in Denorfia stems from the fact that he and I both went to Wheaton College (MA). Although I didn't know Chris and wasn't even aware of him when we were both there (he was a senior when I was a freshman), it's still exciting to have someone from a small school like ours make it to the big leagues. I hope he gets his chance!