Cincinnati Reds Remain Steady In Latest Power Rankings

Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart remain red-hot. De La Cruz is slashing .300/.364/.633 with eight RBIs and three home runs over his last seven games. Stewart is slashing .276/.333/.517 with two home runs and 11 RBIs. Stewart is just the fourth rookie all-time to record eight home runs and 23 or more RBIs before May, joining Pete Alonso, Jose Abreu, and Albert Pujols.

Nathaniel Lowe hit four home runs over the weekend, including a walk-off home run versus the Detroit Tigers after a lengthy rain delay on Friday night. JJ Bleday homered in his first game on Sunday and looks to provide another offensive threat. TJ Friedl has struggled all season, but is hitting .296 over his last seven games. 

With Eugenio Suarez on the injured list with an oblique injury, Lowe is capitalizing on more consistent playing time.

“I have a more full upper body move,” Lowe told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlies Chalkboard. “That’s the way I see it. The ball isn’t flying exactly the way I want it to yet. That’ll come with getting in a rhythm with more at-bats. I’m getting the ball in the air without trying to get the ball in the air, If you do something simple like that, good things are going to happen.”

Another welcomed sign is Ke'Bryan Hayes is starting to put together better at-bats and is starting to trend in the right direction offensively. Known for his defense, Hayes is 5-18 in his last five games. His OPS has jumped up to .384 from .183 over that span.

“During that stretch or whatever, I was hitting a lot of balls hard,” Hayes told Charlie Goldsmith. “I was being unlucky. There wasn’t a whole lot that I felt like I needed to change outside of here or there not being ready (for the) first pitch or little stuff like that. I was hitting the ball well and being unlucky. I had to keep going, not think about it too much. Baseball sometimes is weird like that.”

Underachieving Rotation

The effectiveness of the rotation has been surprising to say the least. Coming off an All-Star season, Andrew Abbott has not looked anything like the pitcher he was last season. He's walking more and allowing more hard contact. 

“I’ve never had this in my life,” Abbott told Charlie Goldsmith following the Reds victory over the Tigers. “I’ve never struggled for this long in my life. It’s foreign to me. We’re trying different drills. We’re focusing on one thing, then the next. I don’t really know what to label as the reason. It could just be, I think it’s as simple as pitches over the middle of the plate. It could be something else behind the scenes. I’ve never struggled this bad in my life.”

The team's best starters have been the two youngsters, Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder. Burns has had his issues at times with walks, but overall has just a .190 batting average against him. He is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts and looks to be taking a big leap in his development. 

Rhett Lowder is 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in six starts. In his start against the Rays, Lowder struggled in the first inning, allowing a run on two hits and two walks. He managed to settle in the rest of the outing, not walking another batter the rest of the game, and managed to pitch six innings to earn the win. 

Lowder and Burns are leading this rotation that is missing Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene. With Lodolo aiming to return soon, the rotation is finally starting to get back to full strength.