The slugger starred on Saturday in a pair of Reds victories.
Nick Krall has gone on record more than once about putting together a lineup of ‘line drive’ hitters since the Cincinnati Reds began their most recent rebuild.
The Enquirer notes his discussion of how line drive hitters could, in theory, be home run hitters in Great American Ball Park due to the park’s tiny dimensions, and that came back in the spring of 2022.
After the Reds fired their cadre of hitting coaches in October of last year, he once again reiterated his desire to cobble together line drive maestros due to those hits doing more damage in GABP than anywhere else, this time to MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon.
The proof, as we say, is in his puddin’. The Reds routinely roll out a lineup of guys who profile much more as ‘line drive guys’ than legit power hitters, the likes of Gavin Lux, TJ Friedl, Santiago Espinal, Matt McLain, Austin Hays, Spencer Steer, and Jake Fraley not about to mistaken for never going to scare opponents while hopping off the bus.
Their Statcast metrics generally back this up, as they don’t boast the type of eye-popping mph data you’d expect to see from a power-punching group. They rank among the bottom five clubs by team in each of average exit velocity, EV50, and hard-hit %, and indication that they’re likely out there poking a lot more ‘line drives’ than balls that would be destined for the seats in most ballparks in the game today.
Thing is, I do truly wonder if that’s the Krall strategy by default, or the Krall strategy given his budget. Dingers, after all, cost a freakin’ pretty penny, be it through free agency, through the arbitration process, or when it comes time to ask for players who hit for power as returns in trade. Every other team out there craves that pure, raw power of a dinger smasher, and there are precious few out there.
For teams that are attempting to cut costs and save money, not having those players is an indication that they either couldn’t sign them or wouldn’t, and Krall’s public comments may well reflect that. It’s hard not to wonder what he’d say without a mic in his face, and whether sure, I’d love to find more power guys but we just can’t commit that much money to acquiring them is really what’s driving that decision.
So, it’s no real coincidence that the two biggest power threats the Reds carry on their 40-man roster are a skinny kid they signed on the cheap when everyone else overlooked him and a guy who wasn’t even the highest profile prospect in a rebuilding trade. The first, of course, is Elly De La Cruz, who long ago established himself as an overlooked diamond in the rough, a stringy gem of strength whose exploits are only just beginning to unfurl. The second, though, is Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who lack’s Elly’s five-tool upside but makes up for it by boasting some of the most raw power we’ve seen around these parts in years.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
There’s no denying that the Reds lineup physically looks more lethal when CES is in it, his presence in the batter’s box a second chance to put the fear of god in opposing pitchers who know he could well break a light on the scoreboard with one flick of the wrist. He’s big, he’s hit enough bombs across pro ball to have a track record, and if – if being the most key word of all here – he’s finally over the wrist and back issues that derailed his once-promising big league start, he’s a guy the Reds can count on to mash the living crap out of baseballs more often than most anyone else around.
We finally got that back this weekend. CES socked the game-tying homer in the Friday series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks that eventually ended on Saturday with – you guessed it – a walk off CES double. Then, he blasted a 3-run bomb in the 1st inning of the regularly scheduled game on on Saturday to further show the world that, yes, he can smoke just about any hung meatball when he’s right and ready.
If he’s right, and if he’s ready again, that could be exactly what helps lengthen and unlock this Reds offense. When opposing pitchers have fear in their hearts at least a couple times through the order, each nibble at the edge of the zone becomes more paramount. Even if he never walks, even if he fans more than we’d all enjoy, that he’s healthy enough to punish even the occasional great pitch on an iffy swing decision becomes one more weapon for a Reds offense that, for the most part, is built to only just poke line drives into gaps and hope two come in sequence.
CES is back, again, and if he’s truly back the Reds might well be able to dig their way out of their early season hole and into the race once again.
That, folks, is what non line drive hitters do – they mash their teams into the playoff races.