Rarely can we point to an exact moment in time that turned us into who we are today. Our current selves are a culmination of all the experiences we’ve had since birth, good or bad, and their immediate and enduring effects. Motivational speakers claim to recall pivotal, life-altering instances with vivid detail, but not everyone has a story dramatic enough to earn themselves a personal soapbox.

The same goes for baseball players. There is no single game, inning, or plate appearance that molded Mike Trout into the comically talented slugger he is now. One day he was a modest teenager from New Jersey, and seemingly the next a generational hitter. In reality, thousands upon thousands of moments are scattered in between, but you can’t just walk up to one of them, isolate it, and declare it “the game Mike Trout became Mike Trout.”

Which is sort of what I’m going to do with Nick Lodolo.

Don’t get me wrong; I won’t spend the entire article trying to prove that, yes, this is when Lodolo took the next step. In fact, I have no idea if it’s something he’ll even hold onto. Young pitchers tinker with their approaches and repertoires all the time, and what I’m about to describe might be one of many fleeting changes. But there’s a good chance it’s significant. Lodolo, after this vaguely worded moment, became a noticeably better version of himself. And I don’t think the ways in which he improved came together on a whim; they make too much sense. Read the rest of this entry »

You might have heard that the Mets got hit by a record 112 pitches in 2022, but New York wasn’t the only record breaker in that particular category. Cincinnati’s pitching staff breezed by the 2021 Cubs’ modern era record of 98 HBPs with weeks left in the season, and they kept right on plunking. In the last game of the year, Graham Ashcraft sailed a sinker into both the triceps of Patrick Wisdom and the record books, giving the Reds 110 hit batters for the season. That number edged them past the 1899 Cleveland Spiders as the most contact-oriented team of all-time.

Those bloodthirsty Spiders hit 109 batters and lost 134 games, then folded just before the invention of the zeppelin. Eleven of those HBPs and losses were credited to Harry Colliflower, a former carpenter who won his first start, then lost 11 straight decisions and his spot in the big leagues. That’s the company the 2022 Reds kept. Read the rest of this entry »

For the 18th consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction and MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and today’s teams is the Cincinnati Reds.

Batters

The story of the origin of the name of Cincinnati is an interesting one. Many cultures have stories of semi-mythical legend involving historical rulers attaining great feats of martial valor or living absurdly long lives. But the tale of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, counsel for Rome in 460 BC and briefly dictator on two occasions, is a rare one in that it’s a tale surrounding the virtue of civic duty. While the reality was far more complicated, Cincinnatus is not famous so much for vanquishing his foes but for, with the strength of the Republic on his back, voluntarily giving up power and returning to his farm, twice, having done his duty to the Republic. The later Roman Republic was not so lucky; contrast the behavior of Cincinnatus with that of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, known in history as Sulla, who, after victory at the Battle of the Colline Gate over the Marians, seized… what? Oh, right. I’m going to have to talk about this offense, aren’t I?

If owners have any civic duty owed to the cities that pay for their stadiums, not much of that has been displayed by Reds ownership over the last 18 months or so. Coming off an 83–79 season in which Cincinnati was in wild-card contention at the deadline and with most of the core of the roster intact, the team folded its hand extremely quickly, trading most players with significant trade value and slashing the budget by around $50 million, despite playing in a weak division without any truly aggressive teams or profligate spenders. The team shed 13 points of wRC+, dropping from fourth in the NL in runs scored to 11th. To find a season more than a couple points worse than that combined wRC+ of 84, you have to go back to the early 1950s.

There aren’t really any bright spots in the offense, just OK ones. Noelvi Marte gets a very promising projection over the long-term (and how about that top comp!), and both Spencer Steer and Matt McLain get surprisingly optimistic projections that see them as real league-average players. Jonathan India gets sort of a comeback-ish season, and Tyler Stephenson can be a three-win player if he stays healthy and the Reds turn his off-days into DH days. Not a single position player gets 4 WAR at their 90th-percentile projection, though there’s still a good chance that someone does hit that mark because, well, that’s how probability works. The starting outfield basically looks a B-squad spring training roster. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Tuesday’s 40-man roster deadline led to the usual squall of transaction activity, with teams turning over portions of their rosters in an effort to make room for the incoming crop of young rookies. Often, teams with an overflow of viable big leaguers will try to get back what they can for some of those players via trade, but because we’re talking about guys straddling the line between major league viability and Triple-A, those trades tend not to be big enough to warrant an entire post.

Over the next few days, we’ll endeavor to cover and analyze the moves made by each team, division by division. Readers can view this as the start of list season, as the players covered in this miniseries tend to be prospects who will get big league time in the next year. We’ll spend more time discussing players who we think need scouting updates or who we haven’t written about in the past. If you want additional detail on some of the more famous names you find below, pop over to The Board for a more thorough report.

The Future Value grades littered throughout these posts may be different than those on the 2022 in-season prospect lists on The Board to reflect our updated opinions and may be subject to change during the offseason. New to our thinking on this subject and wondering what the FVs mean? Here’s a quick rundown. Note that because we’re talking about close-to-the-majors prospects across this entire exercise, the time and risk component is less present here and these FVs are what we think the players are right now. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. Originally written for the 2018 election at SI.com, it has been updated to reflect recent voting results as well as additional research. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

“A hard-charging third baseman” who “could have played shortstop with more range than Cal Ripken.” “A no-nonsense star.” “The perfect baseball player.” Scott Rolen did not lack for praise, particularly in the pages of Sports Illustrated at the height of his career. A masterful, athletic defender with the physical dimensions of a tight end (listed at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds), Rolen played with an all-out intensity, sacrificing his body in the name of stopping balls from getting through the left side of the infield. Many viewed him as the position’s best for his time, and he more than held his own with the bat as well, routinely accompanying his 25–30 homers a year with strong on-base percentages.

There was much to love about Rolen’s game, but particularly in Philadelphia, the city where he began his major league career and the one with a reputation for fraternal fondness, he found no shortage of critics — even in the Phillies organization. Despite winning 1997 NL Rookie of the Year honors and emerging as a foundation-type player, Rolen was blasted publicly by manager Larry Bowa and special assistant to the general manager Dallas Green. While ownership pinched pennies and waited for a new ballpark, fans booed and vilified him. Eventually, Rolen couldn’t wait to skip town, even when offered a deal that could have been worth as much as $140 million. Traded in mid-2002 to the Cardinals, he referred to St. Louis as “baseball heaven,” which only further enraged the Philly faithful.

In St. Louis, Rolen provided the missing piece of the puzzle, helping a team that hadn’t been to the World Series since 1987 make two trips in three years (2004 and ’06), with a championship in the latter. A private, introverted person who shunned endorsement deals, he didn’t have to shoulder the burden of being a franchise savior, but as the toll of his max-effort play caught up to him in the form of chronic shoulder and back woes, he clashed with manager Tony La Russa and again found himself looking for the exit. After a brief detour to Toronto, he landed in Cincinnati, where again he provided the missing piece, helping the Reds return to the postseason for the first time in 15 years. Read the rest of this entry »

While the top of the celebrated free agent shortstop market has yet to roll into motion, the end of last week saw a flurry of action a little lower on the positional power rankings. The Yankees agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal with Isiah Kiner-Falefa, locking up his final season of team control. And as Friday afternoon progressed, four other teams linked up for an exchange of shortstops. A shortswap, if you will.

Gio Urshela went from the Twins to the Angels for 19-year-old pitching prospect Alejandro Hidalgo, Kyle Farmer went from the Reds to the Twins for minor league pitcher Casey Legumina, and Kevin Newman went from the Pirates to the Reds for reliever Dauri Moreta.
Read the rest of this entry »

International Scouting Analyst

Job Title: International Scouting Analyst
Department: Baseball Operations – International Scouting
Reports To: Assistant Director, Player Development & International Scouting
FLSA: Salary, Exempt

Job Purpose:
To support the International Scouting Department through statistical research and analysis,
video and data capture, scouting coverage, statistical research and analysis, and administrative duties.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and integrate new tools and technology to improve decision-making processes.
• Advanced statistical analysis of players.
• Coordinate data intake from multiple countries.
• Operate various tracking technologies to evaluate players.
• Introductory-level player evaluation, including scouting and writing reports on assignment.
• Assist with video and high-frame rate video capture of pitchers and hitters.
• Edit, trim, and combine video clips.
• General administrative, logistical, and organizational support for International Scouting processes.
• Complete necessary documents and administrative duties in a professional and thorough manner.
• Coordinate efficient travel arrangements.
• Complete expense reports in a timely and professional manner.
• Full and complete knowledge of Major League Baseball rules and regulations.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong work ethic and willingness to work long, flexible hours including weekends and holidays.
• Advanced baseball knowledge from both a scouting and statistical perspective.
• Ability to understand and interpret TrackMan and Rapsodo data.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Knowledge of statistical analysis and/or predictive modeling.
• Demonstrated experience with database querying (SQL) and statistical software (e.g. R, Python).
• Understanding of typical baseball data structures and knowledge of current baseball research, statistics and strategy.
• Ability to communicate effectively with all aspects of Baseball Operations, Scouting, and Player Development.
• Independent judgment and ability to multitask is required to plan, prioritize, and organize diversified workload.
• Ability to work as part of a team.

Experience, Education and Licensure

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Experience playing and/or working in college and/or professional baseball/softball preferred.
• Basic understanding of video management, storage and backup preferred.

Requirements:

• Spoken and written fluency in English. 
• Spanish fluency preferred.
• Ability and willingness to travel within and out of the United States for extended periods of time and occasionally on short notice.
• Willing to relocate within the United States if necessary to meet the needs of the organization.

Expectations:

• Adhere to Cincinnati Reds Organization Policies and Procedures.
• Act as a role model within and outside the Cincinnati Reds Organization.
• Perform duties as workload necessitates.
• Demonstrate flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize workload.
• Meet department productivity standards.
• Willingness to learn. Open to new methodologies. 

Equal Opportunity Statement:
The Cincinnati Reds are an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the Cincinnati Reds to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion or creed, sex, age, military or veteran status, disability, citizenship status, marital status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.

Disclaimer:
The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the employee in this position. The above description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. Additional duties, as assigned, may become part of the job function. The duties listed above is, therefore, a partial representation not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of a person in this position.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Cincinnati Reds.

Baseball Operations Trainee

Location: Cincinnati, OH
Department: Baseball Operations
Reports To: Manager of Baseball Operations
FLSA: Hourly, Non-Exempt

Job Purpose:
Provide daily support to all members of the Baseball Operations Department in a wide range of both administrative and baseball-related tasks and projects.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assist in preparation of advance scouting documents and video for players and coaches during season.
• Perform qualitative and quantitative research and analysis in support of salary arbitration, roster management, player evaluation, amateur draft, and trade deadline efforts.
• Introductory level player evaluation, including scouting and writing reports on assignment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Independent judgment and ability to multitask is required to plan, prioritize, and organize diversified workload.
• Strong work ethic and willingness to work long, flexible hours including weekends and holidays.
• High level of attention to detail.
• Must be trustworthy and comfortable with managing sensitive information.
• High level of interpersonal skills and be able to effectively communicate with wide range of departments, seniority levels and personalities.
• Understanding of typical baseball data structures, plus knowledge of current baseball research and traditional baseball statistics and strategy.

Experience, Education and Licensure:

• Bachelor’s degree or pursuit of degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field, such as statistics, mathematics, engineering, and/or economics preferred.
• Experience playing/working in college and/or professional baseball/softball preferred.
• Demonstrated experience and proficiency with:
  • Database querying (e.g., SQL) and statistical software (e.g., R, Python) preferred.
  • BATS video system preferred.
  • Microsoft Office Suite (e.g., Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) required.

Requirements:

• Spoken and written fluency in English.
• Ability to travel within the United States and internationally.
• Willing to relocate.

Expectations:

• Adhere to Cincinnati Reds Organization Policies and Procedures.
• Act as a role model within and outside the Cincinnati Reds Organization.
• Perform duties as workload necessitates.
• Demonstrate flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize workload.
• Meet department productivity standards.
• Willingness to learn. Open to new methodologies.

Equal Opportunity Statement:
The Cincinnati Reds are an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the Cincinnati Reds to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion or creed, sex, age, military or veteran status, disability, citizenship status, marital status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.

Disclaimer:
The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the employee in this position. The above description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. Additional duties, as assigned, may become part of the job function. The duties listed above is, therefore, a partial representation not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of a person in this position.

Job Questions:

1. Briefly describe (100 words or less) why you feel you are a strong fit for this role.
2. How did you hear about this position?
3. When are you available to start?
4. Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
5. Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status?

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Baseball Analytics Trainee

Location: Cincinnati, OH
Department: Baseball Analytics
Reports To: Baseball Analytics Leadership
FLSA: Hourly, Non-Exempt

Job Purpose:
Assist Baseball Operations decision-making through the analysis of various sources of baseball information. The specific day-to-day responsibilities of this position will vary depending on current needs from our stakeholders along with the baseball calendar but will revolve around analyzing various sources of baseball data.

Technical Questionnaire:
The Baseball Analytics Department of the Cincinnati Reds is requiring all applicants to complete a technical questionnaire hosted on Coderbyte to be considered for this role. The technical assessment has a time limit of 2 hours. Many complete the assessment in 1 hour. The URL to complete the technical assessment is the following: https://coderbyte.com/sl-candidate?promo=cincinnatireds-sqyjd:sql-assessment–xx9c805lh5

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Learn and communicate analytical products across departments.
• Build upon analytic initiatives by creating new statistical models, applications, and reports.
• Introductory level player evaluation, including scouting and writing reports on assignment.
• Iterate on existing products and processes already established by the Baseball Analytics Department.
• Present analysis and research results to stakeholders with various levels of analytic knowledge.
• Conduct ad-hoc research projects when requested.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Independent judgment and ability to multitask.
• Strong work ethic and willingness to work long, flexible hours including weekends and holidays.
• High level of attention to detail.
• Creative approach to problem solving
• High level of interpersonal skills to effectively communicate baseball analytic concepts with a wide range of departments, seniority levels, and personalities.
• Knowledge of current baseball research, data, and technology.
• Strong technical and statistical acumen.
• Passion for the game of baseball.

Experience, Education and Licensure:

• Bachelor’s degree or pursuit of degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field that emphasizes technical and analytical problem-solving skills such as statistics, mathematics, engineering, and/or economics preferred.
• Understanding of advanced statistical techniques is strongly preferred
• Demonstrated experience and proficiency with Database querying (e.g., SQL) and statistical software (e.g., R, Python) is strongly preferred.
• Ability to learn other programming languages as needed.

Requirements:

• Spoken and written fluency in English.
• Willing to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio

Expectations:

• Adhere to Cincinnati Reds Organization Policies and Procedures. 
• Act as a role model within and outside the Cincinnati Reds Organization.
• Perform duties as workload necessitates.
• Demonstrate flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize workload.
• Meet department productivity standards.
• Willingness to learn. Open to new methodologies. 

Equal Opportunity Statement:
The Cincinnati Reds are an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the Cincinnati Reds to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion or creed, sex, age, military or veteran status, disability, citizenship status, marital status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.

Disclaimer:
The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the employee in this position. The above description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. Additional duties, as assigned, may become part of the job function. The duties listed above is, therefore, a partial representation not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of a person in this position.

Job Questions:

1. Briefly describe (100 words or less) why you feel you are a strong fit for this role.
2. How did you hear about this position?
3. When are you available to start?
4. Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
5. Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status?
6. As part of the application process, all applicants are required to complete the technical questionnaire. The information regarding the technical questionnaire is provided in the job description of this posting. If you acknowledge the requirement of this step in the application process, please provide a “YES” response to this question.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Cincinnati Reds.

Who was the Nationals’ best player in 2022? Before you try to answer, I should acknowledge that this is not a fair question to ask. For starters, it’s a trick question. More importantly, you haven’t been watching the Nationals. You’ve been doing the best you can to avoid even thinking about the Nationals. That’s called self-care, and I commend you for it. Even the Nationals’ general manager called it “a daily grind to come here and lose baseball games.” He also called trading Juan Soto a “courageous move by ownership,” so maybe don’t listen to him.

Regardless, go ahead and give it a shot! Keibert Ruiz would be a reasonable guess. The promising young catcher posted 1.7 WAR this season. You could also be forgiven for going with Joey Meneses, who put up 1.5 WAR in just 228 plate appearances since his promotion in August. Read the rest of this entry »

A trade deadline that Padres fans won’t soon forget came to a close with a smaller yet still impactful move, with Brandon Drury heading to San Diego from Cincinnati in return for prospect Victor Acosta. Drury, a free agent after the season, may not be Juan Soto, who was acquired mere hours earlier, but his 132 wRC+ this season turned him into one of the more sought-after bats available at the deadline.

It’s been a long road for the 29-year-old Drury up to this point in his career, with the Padres representing his sixth franchise in eight seasons. After years of below-average hitting, he surprisingly put up a 114 wRC+ mostly off the bench for the Mets in 2021. That came in only 88 plate appearances, but it was enough to earn him a deal with the Reds in late March after the team’s post-lockout fire sale. He settled in as the team’s regular two-hole hitter and third baseman after injuries put Mike Moustakas on the shelf and stayed in the lineup thanks to a power surge that’s seen him cross the 20-homer threshold for the first time in his career. Playing in Cincinnati, the best home run park in baseball for righties, certainly played a factor in that development; his new home in San Diego, the more spacious Petco Park, is middle of the road in terms of righty power, so it remains to be seen how many of those homers will travel with him to California.
Read the rest of this entry »