Another week in the books, and another set of power rankings for your Monday.
1. Alfredo Simon
#BigPasta. What a performance so far, from a guy who wasn't brought in to do this. He's only given up 2 runs in 15 innings, including a gutty 8 inning performance the other day in his tough luck loss. If he keeps this up, Mat can take his time coming back.
2. Starting Pitching
If you look all the way down the rotation, the Reds have a 2.79 ERA from their starters right now, and their 8 quality starts rank 2nd in the league to Atlanta. Even with Homer struggling to start, everyone seems to be stepping up in Latos' absence.
3. Chris Welsh
Loyal Red Reporter reader Chris Welsh is the undisputed king of the Reds announcers. His open-mindedness to statistical analysis do not go ignored by this particular sphere of the Reds fanbase, and it's his birthday today! Happy birthday, Chris, you made the list.
4. Pythag W-L ranking
That old W-L record may not look kind to the Reds right now, but Pythag puts them at 2nd in the division. That's how we feel about them, so it's high on the list.
5. Devin Mesoraco
This should probably be higher, but Devin has been raking since returning from the DL to start the year. He has extra base hits in each of his 4 games (thanks, @jluckhaupt), and has driven in key runs so far. Could he be the lineup bat the Reds have been looking for?
6. Joey Votto
Joey answered his critics, hitting his first two dingers of the year this week. Joey's on pace to hit more homers than he had last year.
7. Billy Hamilton
Not the best week for him, but it certainly had his moments. His 3-for-4 performance against the Cardinals was a sign of what he's capable of, and could make this season really fun if he can do it consistently. Unfortunately, he's hitting .154 up to this point.
8. W-L record
This is the best 4-8 team in baseball, and I won't be convinced otherwise.
9. Bunting
Despite Dusty Baker not being employed by the team anymore, this team has tried to bunt 12 times so far this season. It breaks down like so:
5: Sacrifices (fine)
1: Hits (yay!)
6: POINTLESS STUPID OUTS
Let's stop the madness.
10. The Reds' medical staff
What's that? Yet another setback for yet another Reds pitcher? CRAZY TALK.
The Reds medical department is the Burger Beer of medical departments.
See you next week!