The Cincinnati Reds have called up top prospect Nick Senzel who will be making his MLB debut Friday night in a game against the San Francisco Giants. Senzel, who is the Reds top prospect and ranked as the fifth-best prospect in all of baseball, will make his long-anticipated debut in front of the home town fans. Senzel will be the fourth player out of the top five prospects in MLB to make his debut this season.
It's time. #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/gTEAOC465E
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 3, 2019
Cincinnati Reds Promote Nick Senzel
Senzel’s Minor League Career
The Reds selected Senzel with the second overall pick in the 2016 draft as an infielder. Cincinnati moved him to centerfield to fast track his way into the major leagues. In his brief minor league career, Senzel has hit 28 home runs and driven in 132 runs in 904 at-bats. Senzel also has had his share of injuries. In 2017 during his first full season in the minors, the Reds shut him down with vertigo symptoms. In 2018, Senzel again missed time with vertigo and also had season-ending surgery on a fracture to his right index finger. Despite suffering an ankle injury in spring training which kept him off the opening day roster, Senzel is still considered one of the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year Candidates.
Impact on The Reds
The Reds are not getting any offensive production from their outfielders to begin the season. The combination of Jesse Winker, Yasiel Puig, Scott Schebler, and Matt Kemp have combined to hit 15 home runs and drive in 41 runs. Also, none of the four players are hitting over .225. Senzel is only one player and he cannot carry the team all by himself. However, the Reds are hoping this can jump-start a struggling offense.
Cincinnati’s starting pitching has been keeping the team in games all season long. The boiling point might have been reached this past week when the Reds managed to score nine runs in four games against a talented but struggling New York Mets pitching staff. That is simply not enough production for this team to compete. So with that in mind, the Nick Senzel era begins tonight.
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