2020 Cincinnati Reds Preview – MLB Preview & Prediction
The Reds are heading into the season with a potentially retooled outlook on the year. The Reds managed to pick up some offensive help on the year and the pitching for the Reds looked decent as well last year. To make it even better the Reds were able to keep a lot of their staff intact and while the Reds did not bring in a ton of help in the bullpen it would really like to have a good chance of improving some more on the year and potentially make it easier for the Reds to continue to win some games.
Cincinnati Reds Starting Pitching
The Reds pitching staff is one that has been able to come together and really started to look like a great rotation that could rival almost any teams rotation. The staff ace is Luis Castillo and he is in the contention for the Cy Young. The rest of the rotation is followed up by Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, Anthony DeSclafani, and Wade Miley is the fifth pitcher and one of the main question marks in the rotation. Last year Castillo ended up starting in 32 games and threw a total of 190.2 innings on the year while striking out 226 batters and posting a 15-8 record while getting a 3.40 ERA.
Cincinnati Reds Relievers
With the Reds the relievers are coming in as part of the questionable part of the team and potentially the part of the team that could cost the Reds some of the games. Michael Lorenzen headlines the bullpen. He has some help from Pedro Strop, Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, and Lucas Sims. The projected closer for the Reds is Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias last year ended up pitching in 68 games while getting a total of 67 innings while striking out 89 batters and getting a 4.16 ERA. He did end up posting a 3-12 record with 34 saves and 6 blown saves.
Cincinnati Reds Catchers
The catching position for the Reds is one that can be interesting, but it has Tucker Barnhart as the projected starter on the year. Curt Casali is the first backup and Kyle Farmer is looking to play the third string catcher if the Reds need to bring 3 to the majors. Last year Barnhart played in 115 games and managed to hit only at a clip of .231 with 11 homers and drove in 40 runners. When it comes to throwing out the runners Barnhart ended up getting only 22.6% of the runners thrown out.
Cincinnati Reds Corners
When it comes to playing the corners the Reds have looked decent an are bringing back some decent talent with Joey Votto at first and Eugenio Suarez at third. The key point is keeping them both healthy for the year. If not, Josh VanMeter could be getting a big workout on the year as he backs up at both positions. Last season Votto was healthy playing in 144 games and hitting at a clip of .261 with 15 homers and brought home 47 runners. When it comes to Suarez ended up playing in 159 games while hitting at a great clip for the Reds of .271 with 49 homers and bringing in 103 runners.
Cincinnati Reds Middle Infield
The middle infield for the Reds is shored up nicely with Freddy Galvis playing at short and Mike Moustakas being the player that was brought in and should be able to handle second base nicely. Josh VanMeter is going to back up at second and Alex Blandino is backing up a short. Moustakas is a new addition for the Reds coming from rival Milwaukee. Moustakas ended up playing in 143 games while getting an average of .254 and cranking out 35 homers while getting 87 runners in. Last season Galvis ended up playing in 147 games and hitting at a clip of .260 with 23 homers and bringing in 70 runners.
Cincinnati Reds Outfield
The Reds outfield will look decent this year with Shogo Akiyama playing in left field, Nick Senzel in center field, and Nicholas Castellanos in right field. When it comes to the backup position Jesse Winker in left, Akiyama backs up in center and Aristides Aquino is going to back up in right field. This will be the first season in the majors for Akiyama so he does not have any stats in the majors, but comes over from Japan. Nick Senzel is coming into the season playing in 104 games last year while hitting at a clip of .256 with 12 homers and bringing home 42 runners total. Castellanos last year played in a total of 155 games while hitting at a clip of .289 with 27 homers and managed to bring in a total of 73 runners on the season.
Cincinnati Reds Prediction
The Reds are definitely one team that is on the upswing. With the pitching staff the Reds have brought together along with the hitters that have been brought on board could really help the Reds this year. The downside is some of the other teams that are in the Central Division are still fairly well tooled and that could give the Reds a challenge. Look for the Reds to come into the year here and have a good run and possibly a finish towards the top of the NL Central.
