Loading ...
(Ed.: Bumped to the top; didn’t want it to disappear down the page too quickly. Newer posts below.)
There are so many things going right for the Cincinnati Reds right now. Add to the list that they have the best offensive catching tandem in National League. They are second in all of baseball only to the New York Yankees in batting average and OPS.
- Ramon Hernandez: 20 starts, batting .300/.417/.386 avg/obp/slg
- Ryan Hanigan: 17 starts, batting .368/.478/.561, and tied with Jay Bruce for 5th on the team with 16 RBI (in less than half the at-bats.)
It looks like Dusty Baker has found the right balance of playing time to keep each player fresh, and playing time has been shifting to Hanigan so far in the month of May. Hanigan has made 8 starts in May compared to 6 starts for Hernandez.
Hanigan and Hernandez lead the Reds with the best and second best batting average on the team.
Stats are through games played Saturday night:
| Rk | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIN | 145 | 13 | 42 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 23 | 17 | .347 | .455 | .488 | .943 |
| 2 | SFG | 145 | 22 | 43 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 16 | .339 | .410 | .496 | .906 |
| 3 | PHI | 139 | 20 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 24 | 24 | .321 | .442 | .429 | .871 |
| 4 | CHC | 143 | 21 | 34 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 26 | 27 | .293 | .423 | .448 | .871 |
| 5 | NYM | 148 | 18 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 23 | 7 | 20 | .274 | .311 | .548 | .859 |
| 6 | MIL | 155 | 17 | 34 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 22 | 22 | 17 | .266 | .374 | .453 | .827 |
| 7 | COL | 147 | 20 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 21 | 14 | 40 | .250 | .320 | .500 | .820 |
| 8 | ARI | 150 | 15 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 21 | 39 | .248 | .353 | .419 | .772 |
| 9 | ATL | 155 | 20 | 31 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 26 | 25 | .252 | .394 | .366 | .759 |
| 10 | LAD | 160 | 21 | 36 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 17 | 25 | .263 | .348 | .387 | .735 |
| 11 | SDP | 146 | 15 | 34 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 33 | .266 | .352 | .375 | .727 |
| 12 | WSN | 153 | 15 | 44 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 20 | .303 | .325 | .400 | .725 |
| 13 | PIT | 149 | 8 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 25 | .252 | .322 | .385 | .707 |
| 14 | STL | 152 | 9 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 20 | .252 | .329 | .348 | .677 |
| 15 | FLA | 156 | 14 | 35 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 12 | 28 | .245 | .308 | .350 | .657 |
| 16 | HOU | 125 | 8 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 28 | .202 | .232 | .286 | .518 |
| TOT | 2368 | 256 | 563 | 106 | 3 | 62 | 289 | 252 | 404 | .273 | .356 | .417 | .773 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 5/16/2010.
Great stuff, Greg. Coincidentally, I was discussing this with my neighbor last night. We were talking about places the Reds could upgrade at the trade deadline, and I said that while there are better catchers out there, any upgrade isn’t practical (we’re not getting Joe Mauer). My neighbor then said that nobody has a better combination. He was dead right.
Hernandez sure catches a lot of flak for the numbers he puts up. He’s basically LLM with a bigger bat. Something about him just makes him feel worse than he is, though.
The Reds are now a solid middle-of-the-pack team in most offensive stats. The pitching numbers are toward the bottom but apparently starting to catch fire. I sure hope it continues. If nothing else it’s a lot of fun to watch.
My favorite stat:
Cincinnati … GB -
St Louis … GB .5
Chicago GB 5.5
This is great stuff, Greg.
If it weren’t for Ramon’s often-lackadaisical defense, there could be no complaints with these guys. They are certainly getting on base at a good clip.
Let’s hope they stay healthy.
The ridiculousness of batting OC leadoff aside, I really like how the bottom of our lineup shapes up right now—Gomes, Stubbs, catcher. Good mix of power and OBP so we can turn the lineup over faster.
@Sultan of Swaff: The top of the lineup ain’t so bad, either. Bruce is developing in to a star and everyone else is at a level that you can realistically look at and say “Yeah, I think they can keep that up.”
How cool is it to look at the Reds and feel good? I can tell the entire attitude of the site has changed. Over the past few years its been easy to be pessimistic even when something goes right. I feel the need to point out what the Reds are doing right to people that couldn’t care less all the time anyway, but now I’m getting genuinely excited. And it’s awesome that the most potential on this team is in the pitching. That’s how championships are won.
.455 OBP for our catchers?? Awesome! That’s mind-blowing.
And you know, I have to say (and I’m a frequent Dusty basher)… kudos for Dusty for seemingly waking up to how good Hanigan is. He’s made a change here, and in my opinion it’s for the better. Hanigan is getting more than half the playing time, b/c he just seems to be a little better than Ramon.
I don’t care that Ramon is the veteran. Both have been very good… but Hanigan is a little bit better I think (especially if you factor in defense). Good for Dusty to see that also, and make the adjustment.
I’m showing this to my fiance when I get home, and admitting that I should stop giving Ramon grief. I’m willing to accept that I’m wrong(ish).
I still like Hannigan more.
CERA:
3.78 – Hanigan
5.47 – Hernandez
Surprisingly, Hernandez and Hanigan have each gunned down 6 would be base stealers this season, 11:6 to 6:6 respectively.
@David: They do run on Hernandez a lot more. I didn’t look at the differences last year, but Hernandez’s last year in Baltimore (2008) he was the most run-on catch in all of baseball.