Can Reds Team Speed Change the Game?

It's not unreasonable to think so

Run-DLC (USA Today)

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The self-proclaimed “fastest man in the world’’ did, in fact, win the day Sunday for the Club. Elly De La Cruz has change-the-game speed, to such an extent he’s already helping big baseball minds re-think the way hardball is played.

How do you know that, Doc?

Um, er, well. . .

The larger point is, after a generation of dull Three Outcome Baseball, we’re starting to see teams re-recognize the value of putting balls in play, getting on base and aggressively taking advantage of both. And the Cincinnati De La Cruzes just might be at the front of that line.

Maybe we saw just a random bit of aggressive baseball Sunday, when De La Cruz manufactured two of the Reds four runs basically by himself. Or maybe we glimpsed a slice of tomorrow.

De La Cruz led off the 6th with an eight-pitch walk off accomplished veteran junkballer Adam Wainwright (an accomplishment in itself, for a kid still learning to hit a breaking ball), stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on a flyout and scored the game-tie-er on Tyler Stephenson’s base hit.

In the 8th, Run-DLC walked to start the inning, advanced on a groundout to the left side, advanced again on a passed ball and, impressively, scored the game-winner on a hard grounder to Looie shortstop Paul DeJong, who was drawn in and has a cannon arm.

(Heads up, kids: This Space will be using the nickname Run-DLC a lot. It pays tribute to one of the most influential, old-school hip-hop groups, Run-DMC, straight outta Queens, circa 1983.)

This is not your uncle’s baseball. It’s not juice-fueled homerball. It’s not what we’ve grown accustomed to at the Small Park. Those good ol’ Griffey-Dunner days when the Reds would hit 200 homers a year and lose 90 times? Not now.

The speed is impressive top to bottom, topped only by the team’s eagerness to unleash it. The old “need-ya-on-3rd, Brucie’’ mindset fostered by Scott Rolen back in the day has been reborn, with players whose speed makes Rolen’s exhortations more realistic.

How do the Reds maximize the asset?

Take good ABs. Forget what they learned about the importance of getting the ball in the air. Launch angle is so last decade. Griffey used to say he never tried to hit home runs. He tried to make good contact. Good advice, even if you don’t have Junior’s singular talent.

Vince Coleman

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Watch some video of the mid-80s Cardinals of Coleman, McGee and Tommy Herr. Whitey (Herzog) Ball. The ‘85 Cards won 101 games while hitting 87 homers. They led the NL in runs. Herr had 110 RBI with 8 homers. Coleman stole 110 bases.

Of course, the old Busch Stadium was not a bandbox and its artificial surface was made for hard-hit grounders and line drives. But the emphasis on making contact and keeping constant pressure on the defense propelled those Cards to a 7-game World Series.

How are the Reds doing?

They’re 5th in baseball in on-base percentage. They’re 4th in walks. That’s good.

They strike out 23.4 percent of the time (11th-most). That’s not good. They don’t “barrel’’ the ball well, according to Statcast, which defines barreling as “a batted ball with the perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle.’’

The Braves lead the game with 12 percent barrels. The Reds are 29th, at 5.9 percent.

In comparison, Barrels leader Aaron Judge barrels the ball 30 percent of the time. The The Reds best barreler is Tyler Stephenson, whose 8 percent rate checks in at No. 134. Yikes.

De La Cruz, for all his game-changing magic, has struck out 10 times already, in 27 plate appearances. (He’s also scored 7 runs and driven in 4.)

Speed doesn’t slump. Aggression doesn’t tire. Station to station isn’t the only way to score runs. The new rule banning radical shifting only helps the odds of players who put the ball in play. Who knows, maybe the Reds will actually start considering sac bunts, too. I’m waiting for the day DLC is running on the pitch and goes 1st-to-3rd on a bunt to the right side.

Now, then. . .

Spencer Strider

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APPRAISING HUNTER GREENE is a once-every-five-days exercise, because his progression and (hopefully) eventual stardom is so relevant to everything the Reds want to achieve.

And so the question: When is the right time to start judging him as the “ace’’ of The Club’s staff? What’s the cutoff date for ceasing to qualify every start Greene makes by citing his age and relative lack of time as a professional? The COVID season and the Tommy John surgery both cut significantly into his growth.

Let’s compare Greene, the Reds presumptive ace, to Atlanta’s Spencer Strider, the Braves unqualfied ace. Strider has 33 career starts; Greene has 37. Strider went to college. Greene did not. Each has lost an entire season to TJ surgery. Strider is 9 months older than Greene.

As a rookie last year, Strider started 20 games, went 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA. This year, he’s 6-2 with a league-leading 121 Ks in 73 innings. Last year, Greene was 5-13 with a 4.44 ERA. This year, he’s 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA.

Is the comparison apt? Maybe not fully, but fairly close.

If you do a deep dive on Greene’s ‘23 numbers, they’re not a lot different than they were last year. Walks down, Ks up. Hard hit balls against him up.

Through 13 starts last year: 5.26 ERA in 65 innings, 28 walks, 85 Ks, 3-7 record.

This year through 13 starts: 4.01 ERA in 67 innings, 27 walks, 97Ks, 1-4 record.

The big strikeouts are nice, especially if Greene’s on your fantasy team. As we’ve said before in This Space, Ks for starting pitchers are overrated. Give me a guy who can throw 90-100 pitches and finish the 6th inning with his team still in the game.

Your Hunter takes, please.

THE FINAL ROUND OF THE CANADIAN OPEN was better than any game of the NBA Finals. Hands down.

Canada’s own Nick Taylor had to birdie 17 and 18 Sunday just to make a playoff with Tommy Fleetwood. It took Taylor four extra holes to put him away. It was the first time since 1954 a Canadian had won his country’s only PGA Tour event.

Late Sunday afternoon, it was pressure shot after pressure shot. Taylor won with a belief-defying 72-foot eagle putt, after which fans poured onto the green to celebrate. I wanted the playoff to continue as long as possible. It was that good.

Conversely, I tried to watch the Finals and the incomparable Jokic. I lasted one half of Game 2. Hard to explain the disinterest, except to say it all looked the same, possession after possession. Without a rooting interest, I had no reason to care.

PROGRAMMING NOTE. CIAO, BABY. We’re leaving for Italy on Saturday for a couple weeks. More on that as the week progresses. While I’m away. I’ve schedule sort of a greatest-hits series of TMLs. It’s based on the top 10 or 12 most-read posts, according to Substack’s numbers.

Not surprisingly, non-sports stuff ranked highest, which does make me wonder why I wrote sports for pay for four decades. The top-read TML was about, um, Crazy Chester the dog taking me for a walk in the park. Other favorites: Gratitude at Thanksgiving, a kinda scathing critique of Tommy Tuberville and the annual trip to the NC mountains with Kelly, my son.

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . 60 Minutes did a segment with David Byrne last night. It was very good. I’d forgotten how many hits Byrne had with Talking Heads and that fabulous Big Suit he wore on stage. Here’s my favorite Heads tune. Kerry and I made a video to it, as I danced around the room holding Kelly. He was, like, four months old at the time.

Little pee-pee, little toes.

Great tune, and odd in that inimitable Talking Heads way.