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The Reds got the unfortunate news after the conclusion of yesterday’s game that Joey Votto had fractured his left thumb. According to manager David Bell, Votto will be out for approximately a month. Bell noted that the team will take the off day to figure out their plans with Votto out. Given that information, here are some of the Reds’ options to play first base in Votto’s absence.
Outfield Surplus
With Shogo Akiyama nearing a return, the Reds are about to be in a situation where they will have five outfielders competing for at bats. Naturally, if you could free up some additional at bats by playing one of those five in the infield, it would make some sense. Three candidates come to mind to see time in the infield: Nick Senzel, Nick Castellanos, and Jesse Winker.
Nick Senzel
Senzel would likely be the player with the easiest transition to the infield. He was drafted as a third baseman, and played exclusively in the infield in the minors. He has also made appearances at second and third base for the Reds this season, playing 13 ⅔ innings at second base and a single inning at third base.
If Senzel were to move back to the infield, the Reds would have multiple options. In all of the options, third baseman Mike Moustakas would slide over to first base, a position he played 63 ⅔ innings at last year. One option would be to slot Senzel in directly at third base. This seems fairly unlikely though, as Senzel has dealt with shoulder issues recently and third base would put the largest amount of stress on his shoulder.
Perhaps more likely is that Senzel plays second base, with Jonathan India sliding back to his natural third base position. If the Reds really want to shake things up, Senzel could slot in at second, with India shifting to shortstop and Eugenio Suárez moving back to third. This could certainly be worth trying, as Suárez has been one of the worst defenders in the league this season. While India only has 65 Minor League innings at shortstop, he seems to have what it takes to be at least better defensively than Suárez.
Nick Castellanos
As is the case with Senzel, there are a couple scenarios that could make sense if Castellanos was moved to the infield. A former third baseman, Castellanos could return to the position, allowing Moustakas to slide over to first. However, Castellanos was also a poor defender at third base, making this scenario not only unlikely, but ill-advised.
The more likely scenario would see Castellanos moving in to play first base. He has never appeared at first base in his professional career, making this scenario unlikely on first glance. However, the same was true of Jay Bruce when he appeared there in 2014, and first base is generally regarded as one of the easier positions to learn.
Jesse Winker
Winker, like Castellanos, has never played first base. He’s also a below average outfielder defensively, so it makes some sense to move him. In the scenario of Winker or Castellanos moving to the infield, the Reds would have extra at bats available in the outfield for Tyler Naquin and/or Akiyama.
Catchers
In this scenario, whichever of Stephenson/Barnhart wasn’t starting behind the plate that day could get some time at first base. Both have hit well, though it’s worth noting that Barnhart has fallen off a bit from his hot start, and both have benefitted from fortunate BABIP luck.
Stephenson has played just one professional inning at first base, coming in a blowout game on Tuesday. Barnhart is known as the better defender behind the plate, having won a pair of Gold Gloves. However, he’s also more experienced at first base, having played 70 innings there, including six starts.
Minor League Options
The Reds have two players on the 40-man roster that could make sense as a short term solution. One is Max Schrock, who got nine plate appearances earlier in the season before being optioned. Though he hit well in Spring Training, his bat is nothing to get excited about, as he’s a career .260/.324/.350 hitter in 760 AAA plate appearances.
The second option is Scott Heineman, an outfielder by trade who’s played a bit of first base at the Major and Minor League levels. Heineman’s bat is a bit more intriguing, having slashed .308/.373/.468 in 655 PA at the AAA level. He had been a member of the Reds’ taxi squad earlier this season, indicating that the Reds had considered him as a potential call-up option if the need would arise.
Bench Bats
Perhaps the most obvious options are bench bats Alex Blandino and Kyle Farmer, both of whom have appeared at first base this season. Both are best advised to be used as shorter-term options as neither is likely to provide much value with the bat. Additionally, neither is a first baseman by trade, so it’s likely their defense wouldn’t be valuable enough to offset a lack of offense. If the Reds opt to give the majority of first base reps to Blandino or Farmer, they could be in for a rough month.
Conclusion
It’s clear the Reds have multiple routes they could take to replace Votto for the next month or so. What’s less clear is which route would be the most beneficial. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see a mixed bag of the above options, with no clear-cut everyday solution. The Reds could opt to use that extra spot to keep the “hot hands” in the lineup regularly, with their plan evolving as hitters go through hot streaks and rough stretches. Regardless, the Reds will be hoping for a quick return from Votto.
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I think the most likely option is what you discuss at the top, with Moose moving over to 1st base, India to 3rd and Senzel to second. I don’t doubt India could be a better defensive SS than Suarez, but it would take a while, given his lack of experience.
I don’t see that happening now. And Castellonas’ arm is going to stay in RF. Against LHed pitchers, we’ll see some of Blandino and Farmer.
I’m completely torn about all of this. Moustakas at 3B has been the best part of the IF defense. Maybe that transfers over to 1B, which would be OK then. India is hitting so poorly it feels strange to go out of the way to work him into this. Why not Blandino at SS instead? Not making serious proposals here, just throwing my hands up. And the DH in Cleveland complicates it further.
I agree there is no clearly dominant scenario. I would like to see both Stephenson and India get a significant number of at bats this year to see what they can do. I favor keeping India at second and seeing if he can ride out the slump and playing Stephenson at first most of the time and then catching a few games to give Barnhart a rest. However, trying to play a new position at the major league level could hurt Stephenson’s offense. Yep, no clearly dominant scenario.
Times like this I’m glad we have a smart, up-to-date manager who will look at all the data and talk it over with his coaches to come up with a plan.
I would like to see Blandino get enough (somewhat regular) at bats to see if his hitting can work at MLB level. With no particularly good option available to the team at this point, he may have the best shot at being solid – even without a high ceiling. I liked the team giving the Suarez/India option a chance, but both have been struggling mightily. Unless they are seeing something starting to click for Jonathan in batting practice, I’d like to see him getting daily at bats at AAA.