How far can they drag this team?
The lead picture for this article is of catcher Jose Trevino, and that’s not on accident. The veteran backstop was acquired from the New York Yankees over the winter, picked up a contract extension, and was thrust into the more ‘everyday’ role behind the plate when stalwart backstop Tyler Stephenson went down with an oblique injury in spring camp.
Trevino, ofted lauded for his defense behind the dish and for his ability to call games, deserves an immediate mention when anyone begins to talk about the production, so far, from Cincinnati Reds pitching. With a shoutout to Austin Wynns, too, the game-calling thus far has been outstanding through two weeks of action.
With that said, it’s impossible not to shift the rest of the dap to the arms in the starting rotation. As of writing this on the morning of April 9th, they’re the top unit in all of baseball by fWAR (2.0), and that’s far from the only category where they rank at or very near the top.
They’re second in IP as an overall unit (71.1) to only the Chicago Cubs (77.1), who you’ll recall have played two additional games so far this year after beginning the year early in Japan. Reds starters are simply pitching well and deeper into games so far this year than any other unit out there.
They’re also throwing harder, collectively. Their 97.0 mph average fastball velocity is tops in the league (by a full 1.2 mph). Lest you assume that velocity leads them to wild, they lead all SP units in BB/9 at a minuscule 1.64, too.
It’s a collective level of production that has led them to a 2.52 ERA as a group, which – again – is the best in all of baseball from starting units, their 3.08 FIP still a very respectable 4th.
How sustainable is this, you may ask, and that’s a very legitimate question to consider.
So far, they’re sporting a pretty unsustainable .219 BABIP, something that will surely normalize closer to the ~.300 level as the season moves on. Their 35.2% groundball rate is the third lowest league-wide – meaning they’ve allowed the third most balls in play to be hit in the air – yet their 6.3% HR/FB rate is the third lowest in the league. In other words, they’ve been getting by on allowing a lot of fly balls that haven’t flown over walls as often as you’d typically expect them to, something that may well catch up with them as the weather warms.
That’s a story for another day, though. Who knows, perhaps Trevino, Wynns, & pitching guru Derek Johnson have been leaning into the early April weather in their tactics and calling games hoping for more balls in the air, knowing full well they won’t be travelling anywhere as far right now. Would you really put it past them?
As things stand, the brilliant starts to the season from the likes of Hunter Greene (1.2 bWAR) and Nick Lodolo (0.9 bWAR) have them ranking 1st and 3rd by Baseball Reference’s WAR, meaning this puff piece on the unit as a whole is not based solely on the fine computers at FanGraphs – it’s a pretty universal sentiment right now.
Yesterday’s 1-0 win against the San Francisco Giants was spearheaded by yet another rock solid outing by Lodolo, that coming just one day after a 2-0 win over said Giants after Greene nearly tossed a complete game shutout. Today, they’ll turn to veteran Nick Martinez with a series sweep on the line, with first pitch set for 3:45 PM ET.