Two things have proven true so far for the Cincinnati Reds in this weekend’s series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The first, of course, is that walks will haunt. Cincinnati pitchers walked seven straight batters in Saturday’s 17-7 drubbing by the Buccos, the strike zone simply as hard to find as ships in the Bermuda Triangle.
The second, though, is that JJ Bleday looks like the JJ Bleday of old. Rather, he looks like the former Top 5 pick and guy who once socked 20 dingers in the big leagues for Oakland,
a guy on whom the Reds can lean regularly in the outfield (at least against right-handed pitching).
As a result, we’ve seen Rece Hinds slip to the bottom of the Reds roster. His strikeout proclivity returned immediately when he was recalled to the big leagues in April after Noelvi Marte’s struggles, and they simply haven’t gone away. And with Bleday looking the part of the strong-side of potential platoon in the outfield, regular playing time for Hinds has completely evaporated. Given that playing every day was paramount for his development, according to Terry Francona earlier in the year, it simply stopped making sense for him to ride pine with the Reds at the big league level anymore.
So, on Sunday they optioned Hinds back to AAA Louisville, recalling Blake Dunn to be the last bench bat on the roster for his turn.
Of note in those notes is that RHP Pierce Johnson was placed on the bereavement list, and the recently optioned Zach Maxwell was recalled to take his place in the bullpen.
It’s a shuffle that hopefully will give the Reds the best options for Sunday’s series finale in Pittsburgh as the Reds look to salvage a game out of this otherwise dismal series.
