Preview: Reds-Rockies (July 27)

by — July 27, 2019 in Game/Series Preview

The Reds (46-55) get another shot at the Rockies. Last night’s game didn’t go so well. Game time tonight is 7:10 p.m. ET.

Feel free to use this thread to discuss the game before and while it’s going on.

Pitching Matchup

Tonight’s matchup leans heavily in the Reds favor.

Anthony DeSclafani is having a good year. His underlying stats (K%, BB%, FBv) are better than average for an NL starting pitcher. His HR/FB rate has been close to average. If you’re going to nit-pick, it would be his ground-ball rate being low. Nick Carrington has a really nice post up this morning about DeSclafani and his fastball velocity. Definitely worth a read.

Chi Chi Gonzalez, on the other hand, is a journeyman minor league pitcher. He’s 27. This is his fourth start of the season. Two of the first three came at high altitude in Denver. Gonzalez has a batting-speed fastball, a really low strikeout rate (and it has been low throughout his minor league career), and a high walk rate. This is a case where a 5+ ERA is a fairly accurate representation of the better composite stats. Gonzalez’s SIERA is nearly 6. This is a guy the Reds should handle.

Batting Order

Nick Senzel is back in the lineup, batting 6th. Jesse Winker and Joey Votto provide a double-barrel lefty attack at the top.

Josh VanMeter, who hit a homer last night gets the call ahead of other LH batters Scooter Gennett and Derek Dietrich. This is a good thing if you ask me. Same with Jose Peraza getting playing time at short. While Jose Iglesias is beautiful with the glove, he’s not part of the Reds future. The club needs to figure out what kind of a player Jose Peraza is. Mediocre-to-OK, which is probably Peraza’s ceiling, shouldn’t stop the club from looking outside for a new shortstop. But give the guy a chance to see if he develops. On the other hand, Peraza has now gone more than 100 plate appearances without a walk. So there’s that.

The Rockies add the plus-hitting Trevor Story to the top of their lineup. Ian Desmond bats 6th and he’s a good hitter, too. Hate to break the news, but this Rockies lineup is much better than yesterday’s when they scored a smooth dozen on Luis Castillo and Jared Hughes.

[Graphic: Baseball Press]

Rockies Hitter Stats

[Graphic: Baseball Savant]

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Steve Mancuso

Steve Mancuso is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up during the Big Red Machine era. He’s been writing about the Reds for more than ten years. Steve’s fondest memories about the Reds include attending a couple 1975 World Series games, being at Homer Bailey’s second no-hitter and going nuts for Jay Bruce at Clinchmas. Steve was also at all three games of the 2012 NLDS, but it’s too soon to talk about that.

1 Response

  1. Steve Mancuso says:
    July 27, 2019 at 7:16 PM

    Disco’s high fastball is a tough pitch.

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