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Nick's Blog Post #8 - August 2019
August 31, 2019
52-84, 5th in NL Central, 32 GB

As we enter the home stretch of the season, things are getting a lot less interesting around here, so we'll keep these updates relatively brief until our true season starts - the offseason!

Team Performance

One might expect that trading away just about all of our good players would have a negative impact on our performance, but the opposite seems to be true - we went 13-16 in August, our best month this season! Is trading away franchise cornerstones the key to winning games? Maybe that'll be something for the sabermetric community to dig further into. In any case, we are now tied for the 4th-worst record in baseball, which is actually an improvement over where we've been for most of the year. It's all about the small victories these days.

Player Performance

- In a plot twist nobody saw coming, SS Orlando Arcia was by far our best hitter in August, tearing up the league with a .330/.372/.585 slash line and 6 homers. He even won NL Player of the Week one week! His .377 BABIP on the month probably had something to do with it, but if this is indicative of a jump in his talent level then I am very excited. He now has a 97 OPS+ on the season, which is solid production from a shortstop (although he's made the 2nd most errors in the majors, so some of his position value is definitely eroded there).

- IF Eugenio Suarez failed to heat up with the weather, hitting a paltry .216/.267/.306 for the month. The fact that our best hitter had his worst month at the same time that the team had its best month is perplexing, until you see what our pitchers did...

- SP Framber Valdez has pitched better than we could have hoped for when we acquired him at the trade deadline, posting an 85 FIP- and 3.6 K/BB ratio while allowing a laughable .597 OPS to opponents in 31 innings across 6 starts for us. His August numbers would have looked even better had he not got blown up in the 2nd inning of his Aug. 31 start. His overall numbers don't accurately describe how he did - in 4 of his 6 starts he went at least 5 innings and gave up 2 or fewer runs. Those are All-Star type performances, and if he can keep doing that in two thirds of his starts, I'll happily live with his blow-ups.

- SP Cionel Perez also had a great month for a change, with a 2.56 ERA, 89 FIP- and .608 OPS against in his 6 starts. He capped it off with a complete game 1 run performance against the Marlins, who still managed to win the game in extra innings. Nevertheless, it was a welcome sign of improvement from Perez, who has had his fair share of struggles since we acquired him in June - but then again, who in our rotation hasn't?

Prospect Performance

- SP Tyler Mahle (24, AAA) had a month for the ages, posting a 1.98 ERA and a 5.3 K/BB ratio in 6 starts, including a 7 inning shutout. He looks like he could fit into the back-end of our rotation next year, and we might call him up for September to see what he can do.

- SS Nick Gordon (23, AAA) swung a hot bat in August, slashing .345/.362/.531 in 116 PAs, even taking home an International League Player of the Week award. He's been a solidly above-average hitter in Triple-A since we traded for him in May, which has made him a very valuable player when you take into account his speed and defense. Let's hope he can keep this up at the next level.

- SP Resly Linares (21, A+) looked great this past month, posting a 1.91 ERA and 75 FIP- while allowing an OPS of just .595 and striking out a batter per inning. He is very advanced for his age and will be in AA as a 22 year old by next year.

- C K.J. Harrison (23, A+) played out of his mind in August, with an incredible .420/.495/.670 slash line along with 4 homers in 100 PAs. He has absolutely destroyed A-ball pitchers, and is only still in High-A because he is blocked by Tyler Stephenson - who is also having a killer year - at Double-A. We'll make sure to get him facing tougher competition next year, though, one way or another.

- Our acquisition of OF Cole Roederer (19, A) at the deadline was the worst thing to happen to the pitchers of the Midwest League in recent memory - he's slashed .429/.500/.686 with 6 HR in his 121 PAs since we got him, and he's getting better every day.

- OF Yunior Garcia (18, R) also had a great month - so great, in fact, that he was named Batter of the Month in the Appalachian League. His stat line says it all: .348/.466/.663 with 6 homers in 118 PAs. As a key piece in the Joey Votto trade, we have high hopes for Yunior, and his performance in August was an encouraging sign.

- Our minor league teams as a whole have been doing amazing this year - our Triple-A and High-A affiliates lead their divisions by 10 games and 7 games, respectively, while our Double-A affiliate is tied for first in its division. At this point in the season, I wouldn't blame anyone for tuning into their games over actual Reds games.

League News

Given that our appearances in the headlines are few and far between now that the trade deadline has passed, we might as well talk a bit about what's going on around the rest of the league.

- The Mets are this year's surprise team so far - their 83-52 record gives them more wins than they've had in each of the last two full seasons, and puts them on pace for their best record since 1988! They lead their division by 7 games and look like a lock for the playoffs. That gives me hope - if the Mets can do it, why can't we?

- Superstar OF Christian Yelich is currently on pace to achieve the NL Triple Crown - he leads the league with a .351 average and 43 homers, and is 1 RBI back of the leader at 105. Perhaps even more impressively, he's leading the MLB in the race for the slash line Triple Crown, with an incredible .351/.446/.692 line, translating to a 193 OPS+. At 7.2 WAR, he's leading the league (even Mike Trout!) by nearly a full win.

- The unhittable Kenley Jansen is in the midst of a season-long consecutive saves streak of 29 in a row. Interestingly enough, he's actually lost 4 games this season, but has yet to blow a save opportunity.

- The Astros, as a team, currently have an OPS of .856 on the season. In comparison, our best hitter Eugenio Suarez has an OPS of .815 this season. Really makes you wonder if there's something going on with that team...

Next Update

That's all I've got for now. Tune in next month for the second last update of the 2019 season.