This isn’t a link, but I’d like to give it some space here. Scott Schebler is now hitting .284/.353/.470 and is on pace for a very impressive 5-WAR season. He had a rough May, but he has come on huge in the last few weeks. He’s not gonna hit like a son of a bitch forever, but even if he can settle in as a decently above-average outfielder it could go a very long way to rounding out the Reds’ lineup.
Speaking of outfielders, Adam Berry at MLB.com thinks Adam Duvall is among a handful of NL Central hitters who are poised to make a big turnaround. He doesn’t offer anything ground-breaking, but echos many of the sentiments we’ve been hearing for the last few weeks. While Duvall’s output has been awful so far, he is hitting the ball hard and walking more and getting dragged a bit by his .212 BABIP. I’m probably lower on Duvall than others, but all the same I can hope these things play out favorably.
Tucker Barnhart, he of the Golden Glove, is feeling more comfortable hitting right-handed and it is showing. He has been well below-average for his career from the right side, but in 37 ABs this season he is crankin’ up a .405 average.
I wonder how teams determine which players they’d like to see pursue switch-hitting. Barnhart says he hasn’t been hitting righty for as long as he has lefty, so there was some point in his life when that decision was made. I was always a switch-hitter myself, but that was something I did from the very beginning of tee ball. I mean, if guys like like Tucker and Billy Hamilton can pick it up in their late teens, then why not a guy like Joey Votto? I don’t have an answer to that question and it is not rhetorical in the slightest.
Speaking of Joey Votto (my transition game is way jammin’ today), one of the greatest hitters of his generation, FanGraphs details the tragic decline of another of this generation’s greatest hitters, Miguel Cabrera. He ruptured a biceps tendon earlier this week and requires season-ending surgery.
He has been plagued by numerous nagging injuries over the last few years, but none as serious and season-destroying as this ruptured biceps tendon. It really is a shame, but more to the point, it serves as a bleak reminder of the fragility of our heroes. Our own Joey Votto is just about a half-year younger than Cabrera and we must remember that it would take only one awkward swing or misstep on a base to wake us from this dream.
Sleep as long as you can, my kids.
Over at The Athletic, Dan Hoard played “Ten Teammates in a Hat” with new Cincinnati radio dude Danny Graves. You need to read the whole thing, but you need a subscription first. If you do not have a sub to The Athletic yet, then I hope you have a good reason. It is more-or-less required at this point.
Anyway, here’s one of my favorites:
“Brian Giles loved to walk around the clubhouse naked. Never wore clothes. The only time he wore clothes was on the field or when we were leaving. He was a very muscular guy, but he just loved walking around with no clothes on. But I guess that’s what a men’s locker room is for, right? You can do that. It’s crazy that that’s how I think of him, but the first thing that comes to mind is naked.”