When the Cincinnati Reds gave Freddy Galvis a free hand and eventually went to the Baltimore Orioles for the winter, it became painfully clear that they had to find a new shortstop somehow. Winter went on, the many options found a cozy home elsewhere, and when the Goodyear club started playing the Cactus League the problem hadn’t really been resolved.
Only two weeks until the opening day, the Reds experimented there daily with people like Max Schrock and Alex Blandino, not with Francisco Lindor, not with Marcus Semien, not with Andrelton Simmons. Eventually, the Reds made the decision to slide ex-shortstop Eugenio Suarez a little to the left and bring their 3B back to their original position after a few years on the defensive spectrum in the hopes that his skills would magically reappear for mutual benefit . They’d use a combo of Geno and Kyle Farmer, who had seen as many games as he briefly spent in his Reds career, and we’d all briefly forget that they bypassed a handful of all-star options in the open market to find your perfect shortstop preparation.
The Reds are nearly 40 games in their 2021 season, nearly a full quarter of their work in the books, and you wouldn’t know, it works like a 1983 dream!
So far, only two teams in all of baseball have had more things from their short stops. Cincinnati’s 10 things were only surpassed by the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, who both received 11 from them. Her RBI work was almost as impressive, as the 30 Ribbies who popped Red’s shortstops over the plate were only surpassed by two teams – the Giants (32) and the Chicago Cubs (37).
Defensively, her 8 mistakes were a bit of a disappointment, as these are also the third most of all the shortstop groups in the game. That said, their 53 putouts put them in 10th place, and every single team ahead of them on this leaderboard has played more games than the Reds – with the Rangers (58 putouts) playing 43 games!
Things are good. Arby eyes are good. Playing with the glove is good.
Anyone who’s coached this guy can tell you that the Cincinnati Reds’ short stops were therefore good.
Just don’t worry about those fancy new statistics.
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