The Cincinnati Reds are watching their playoff hopes go down the drain and these three players have struggled a bit, leading to some regression.
At one point in the year, the Cincinnati Reds were the hottest team in all of baseball, winners of 12 games in a row. Fast forward to a few weeks into August and that team looks to be gone. A ton of Reds have found themselves struggling with others landing on the IL.
They watched a playoff spot pass them by over the last few weeks, including a drop down the standings of the NL Central. With such a cold streak going on, the blame can be placed on all levels of the organization.
The front office didn't pursue pieces to fill the holes in the roster, David Bell has made his fair share of mistakes, and some of the players have struggled recently.
Reds: Tyler Stephenson hasn't been the All-Star catcher that many imagined
During the offseason two years ago, Cincinnati let Tucker Barnhart walk in free agency, which seemed to be the move that handed Tyler Stephenson the keys to the future as the Reds catcher. This idea got off to a good start in 2022, but Stephenson would battle injuries for the entire season, limiting him to 50 games. During those games though, Stephenson slashed .319/.372/.482 with 6 home runs and 9 doubles.
2023 has been far from a successful year for Stephenson though. In fact, he's been so streaky this year that Cincinnati hasn't been able to fully hand him the keys to the team as the catcher has caught in just 60 of the Reds 118 games this year. During the month of August, where the Reds have struggled as a team, Stephenson is slashing .143/.280/.286 in 21 at-bats with one home run and six strikeouts.
At this point, it's hard to argue that Stephenson is the Reds best catcher, especially when the Reds pitching staff's ERA is the highest with him behind the plate. Offensively, Luke Maile has been close to, if not above the level of Stephenson. Cincinnati is going to need the young catcher to play like the player that he was in 2021 and 2022 in order to make a better playoff push this season.
Reds: Buck Farmer has struggled lately with the Reds
Nick Krall and the Reds front office decided to only acquire one bullpen arm at the trade deadline, showing real faith in the players they have to hold down the backend. For the most part, their bullpen has been reliable and consistent, which could surprise many because of how overused they have been. But one player that's struggled, especially since the trade deadline, has been Buck Farmer.
In three appearances in August, Farmer has pitched in three losses, including one loss that was handed to him and he's surrendered runs in every single outing. He's allowed four runs and four hits in 2.1 innings of work while walking four and only striking out two. His reliability has become rather foggy for David Bell and the entire Reds team, making him much less likely to use in any kind of high-leverage situation.
With the Reds likely returning Tejay Antone and Vladimir Gutierez in the near future, Buck Farmer finds himself on some real thin ice with the front office and the fan base. Every game matters and Farmer is going to need to prove again that he can be trusted with the ball late in games.
Reds: Elly De La Cruz has seen some regression to the mean following his scorching start
When Ely De La Cruz arrived in Cincinnati, he came with huge expectations. He was one of the top prospects in baseball and he was seen as a Statcast unicorn, topping the charts in infield velocity, exit velocity and sprint speed.
He ended up living up to the hype over the course of the first few weeks in the big leagues where he broke Statcast records for sprint speed and infield velocity, hit monstrous home runs, and even tallied a cycle as a 21-year-old. But as the old saying goes, baseball is a game of failure, and nobody is exempt from this reality. Even the incredible Elly De La Cruz.
During the month of August, Elly has struck out at least twice in eight of the Reds' 10 games. He hasn't recorded a stolen base in almost a month after stealing 17 bags in his first month and a half. Some of this struggle may be attributed to the move to the leadoff spot.
Now, before anybody lights the world on fire about this, Elly is fine. He isn't a bust and he's far from a bad player. His ceiling remains among the highest in the league and the young man is one of the most exciting players to watch. But the Reds roll when Elly is hot and they seem to crumble when he's not and recently, he hasn't been very hot.
