BA Writers: Jonathan India looking great; scouts think Reds are a hot mess

[757690]

I listened to this yesterday. On the flip side all of these scouts also said the reds are an “absolute hot mess”

They’re just jealous

Seriously, I do think by bringing in Driveline, the Reds are going to face resistance and criticism from scouts. What the Reds are doing now with pitchers is similar to what Beane was doing with position players at the turn of the century. And strangely, I think they will face similar attitude from the sabermetric crowd that Beane brought into baseball then.

What the Driveline and Statcast people are doing supersedes the sabermetric approach, making much of the work the stat guys do obsolete.

[RedTeamGo!]

They’re just jealous

Seriously, I do think by bringing in Driveline, the Reds are going to face resistance and criticism from scouts. What the Reds are doing now with pitchers is similar to what Beane was doing with position players at the turn of the century. And strangely, I think they will face similar attitude from the sabermetric crowd that Beane brought into baseball then.

What the Driveline and Statcast people are doing supersedes the sabermetric approach, making much of the work the stat guys do obsolete.

Eh, it wasn’t about that. They said the scouts are not sold Senzel can play CF, they pointed out the fact the reds don’t have a SS, team defense, and all the pitching injuries.

[TommyJ]

The "Hot Mess" comment seems pretty lazy/ignorant First one scout said it, not like this was some unanimous opinion around that league. Second, the reasons he cited were Votto being on the Covid list and our pitchers having injuries. I mean Covid is something all teams are going to have to deal with this year, this isn't specific to the Reds. Also, pitchers get injured, it a hazard of the job. No one we are counting on for big roles have gone under the knife and all seem pretty minor (at this time). Seems like a ridiculous thing the say and overreact too.

[757690]

Eh, it wasn’t about that. They said the scouts are not sold Senzel can play CF, they pointed out the fact the reds don’t have a SS, team defense, and all the pitching injuries.

Well duh. They aren’t going to say what I talked about, they’ll just be more critical of the Reds than warranted. Which it seems they are doing.

[mth123]

I think all of them would make the basic plays and not much else. All of them are rather steady, error free defenders. They just lack the range and quickness to make the hard SS plays. The problem really with them all is not their gloves, it’s their bats. If they could hit just a little, they’d justify their weaknesses on defense.

Disagree. They were moved off of SS as minor leaguers for a reason. The Reds decided years ago that Alex Balndino didn't have a future as a SS, but the off-season fail is giving him a second look at the position, just like Suarez. Same could be said for any of the others.

[757690]

Disagree. They were moved off of SS as minor leaguers for a reason. The Reds decided years ago that Alex Balndino didn't have a future as a SS, but the off-season fail is giving him a second look at the position, just like Suarez. Same could be said for any of the others.

Blandino has more starts, games and innings as a SS than any other position in the minors. He’s been used at all three infield positions at all levels before making the majors. He never was moved off of SS.

Farmer never was a shortstop. He was a catcher, who was moved off of catcher to be an infielder. He has little experience at any of the infield positions.

We just disagree. I’ve watched these guys play SS, and not just this spring, and I have my opinions based on what I saw. You see them differently. Since there is so little info to go on, not much else to say.

[mth123]

Blandino has more starts, games and innings as a SS than any other position in the minors. He’s been used at all three infield positions at all levels before making the majors. He never was moved off of SS.

Farmer never was a shortstop. He was a catcher, who was moved off of catcher to be an infielder. He has little experience at any of the infield positions.

We just disagree. I’ve watched these guys play SS, and not just this spring, and I have my opinions based on what I saw. You see them differently. Since there is so little info to go on, not much else to say.

Farmer was a SS when drafted. LA moved him off the position. Blandino has been viewed as a 2B/3B guy for years, he's played some SS tp make use of him as a utility infielder. He's never been viewed as a SS candidate as a big leaguer. All of those guys are as big a hail Mary pass as Suarez is defensively. Of course, those other guys might fail because of their bats as well.

[NeilHamburger]

In another thread there was a poster who mentioned there was a lot of chatter comparing India this Spring to 2001 when Pujols came out of nowhere.

[HammerTime]

Eh, it wasn’t about that. They said the scouts are not sold Senzel can play CF, they pointed out the fact the reds don’t have a SS, team defense, and all the pitching injuries.

Elite scouting by them to identify Suarez at SS is not ideal.

[paulrichjr]

In another thread there was a poster who mentioned there was a lot of chatter comparing India this Spring to 2001 when Pujols came out of nowhere.

I wonder how much that “came out of nowhere” is because scouts didn’t see him at all last year. Big improvements can happen to guys in the minors over a couple seasons.

[Bourgeois Zee]

I wonder how much that “came out of nowhere” is because scouts didn’t see him at all last year. Big improvements can happen to guys in the minors over a couple seasons.

That may well be a boon to the Reds this season, as they have a whole bunch of HS/JC Rounds 1 - 4 picks from recent drafts (Austin Hendrick, Tyler Callihan, Rece Hinds, Ivan Johnson, Jackson Miller, Mac Wainwright, Lyon Richardson, Michael Siani). Those types tend to take a little longer to develop.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Elite scouting by them to identify Suarez at SS is not ideal.

If that same scout is questioning whether Senzel can play an adequate CF, I'm totally fine with dismissing his opinion completely.

Senzel is a solid defender and among the faster players in the league (97th percentile in sprint speed in 2020).

[DocRed]

The Reds are definitely a hot mess right now from D to SP. My only hope is our hitters can make up that difference and keep us treading water until we get healthy.