Farmers Only: One Game And Some Hitter Talk

The Bats had Monday off. Btw, your boy, Nick Senzel, is now slashing .302/.372/.478 and just played his first game of the year at shortstop. I saw him in person in spring training play the position, and he passed my eye test. He might be a bit clunky with the glove there from inexperience, but the dude is quick and has a killer arm. He’s striking out a nearly a 20% clip, but I think that will go down, and I’ll take a 10% walk rate with an ISO over 150. You want another eye popping stat? His minor league BABIP is sitting at around .370. That means he hits the ball real freaking hard. That’s not luck at this point. Just wanted to let you guys know. It’s also only a matter of time before his call up.

Bats play at 7:00 PM ET.

Pensacola is on their All Star break. They’ll next play on Thursday at 6:05 PM CT.

The Tortugas also didn’t play and will pick up ball on Tuesday with a doubleheader. But since I’m not writing about many games tonight, I’ll give you a look at Taylor Trammell’s season. He’s walking at a 14.2% clip against 19.7% strikeouts with a .148 ISO. That’s a slash line of .296/.402/.443. That’s fucking fantastic. He’s not hitting for as many doubles and triples so far, and he’s only stolen 8 bases, but he’s very quickly becoming almost untouchable as a prospect. Especially if he can stick in center field.

TJ Friedl is also walking at a 14.2% clip on 15.7% strikeout rate. His ISO is lower at .112 but has stolen 11 bases. It’s nice to see these outfielder have such good patience at the plate. It’s much better to watch high minor league numbers drop when they get towards the Majors than hope to see them rise.

Tyler Stephenson rode a hot streak like we hadn’t seen in a while and finally cooled off. However, he’s still putting up an impressive season. He’s walking 11.6% of the time against 22.2% rate on strikeouts. His ISO is sitting at .165 which is dang good for a catcher, and his defense has looked quite legit. He’s slashing .273/.364/.438 as we’ve watched a pretty significant BABIP drop to more of his career average from the beginning of the year.

Dayton also is on break, and will pick up action on Thursday at 7:00 PM ET.

Stuart Fairchild has been having himself a season. He’s walking 11.2% against 23.6% strikeouts with a .183 ISO. That also comes with 17 stolen bases. Seeing that walk rate from Fairchild, coupled with the power, is damn nice to see. He’s a pretty fast guy so I wouldn’t expect his BABIP to fall too much from .352. That’s a bit unsustainable but not at the minor league level. Defenders just aren’t as good.

Jeter Downs isn’t doing as great with a 7.5% walk rate against 21.2% strikeouts, but his ISO is .163, and I’ll take those numbers from a 19 year old kid all day. He’s also stole 18 bases, and has justified every reason in the Reds drafting him. I’d expect a better second half with some adjustments.

Billings had Sunday and Monday off. That’s probably because most of the players got there a week before the season started. They basically live on family sponsored hotdish and begging their college aged buddies to buy them booze. They’ll play again on Tuesday with Mac Sceroler on the mound at 7:00 PM MT.

Greeneville Reds make their home opener on Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET with the highly touted, and Red Reporter CPR #25 prospect, Jacob Heatherly, taking that start. He didn’t have the best start to his pro career, but he’s a highly thought of young lefty from Alabama that the Reds stole from the college ranks by paying a bunch of money in the 3rd round of the 2017 draft.

Baby Reds 3, 2nd Baby Cubs 4

Daniel De La “Fanta” Fuenta gave up only an earned run (2 total) over 3 innings on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Frainger “Stranger Danger” Aranguren struck out 2 over 3 scoreless on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Reyny “Rainin” Rees went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored, and Danny “Antique” Lantigua smacked a 2-run dinger.

The Baby Reds will play again at 7:00 PM PT.