Aug. 29, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

My fellow Reds fans,

This afternoon, at approximately 3:52 PM, Todd Frazier, a true American patriot, went on the offensive and launched an atomic bomb against the soverign entity of the Chicago Cubs.

It was a gruesome but necessary tactic.  It was ugly. There were casualties; but the strike resulted in the surrender of the Cubs and ended the 10 day, multi-National League ground assault against our homeland, Great American Ball Park.

The last 10 days have, at times, tested our resolve as Reds fans. We have questioned the battle plan. There have been near mutinous uprisings in our midsts against our General, Dusty Baker. We have debated the formation of the infantry. We have watched in suspense while our brave players sacrificed for the greater good. Sacrificed bunts. Sacrificed fly balls.

Our brave men lost a couple of battles to a couple of lesser equipped enemies but remained dilligent to win the war. Let there be no mistake; we live in the greatest country in all of Major League Baseball. Reds Country!

After the dust settled today and the Reds emerged victorious, I am proud to report that the state of the stadium is… strong.

Today’s winning effort, in the often dreadful conditions of Cincinnati weather, put the cap on a 10 game home stand in which our beloved Redlegs finished at 8-2. Just as hitters are taught to protect the plate, the Reds Department of Homeland Security protected the integrity of GABP. Although the victory is still fresh, there is little time for reflection or celebration because the trek ahead is long and arduous. With the homeland in tact, The Reds immediately embark for a march on Washington…

Gird your loins, Nasty Nats, for the mighty, mighty Reds advance to give you battle.

There can be but one champion.

Sep 27, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier (21) rounds second base after hitting a home run during the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park. The Reds defeated the Brewers 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

This is the fourth installment of my series of articles which pits the Cincinnati Reds against the best of the National League. The first was with the catchers, Ryan Hanigan against Buster Posey. If you missed that piece and want to catch up, just click here.

In the second piece I compared the first basemen in the league against Joey Votto. He was up against Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, Todd Helton and Adam LaRoche. You can read it here.

The third article was with the second basemen in the league being pitted against Brandon Phillips. The competition there was Chase Utley, Dan Uggla, Aaron Hill and Rickie Weeks. That column can be found here.

At this point the Reds are trailing the National League 2-1. Today we focus on the hot corner. For the past few seasons the Reds had Scott Rolen playing third base but I am rolling out this article with the notion that he is no longer a Red. He has made almost as much news this hot stove league as “where will Michael Bourn end up?” Frankly I am wearing thin on hearing about either of them. With Rolen I am being reminded of when Brett Favre contemplated retirement a few short years ago. Excruciating!

I love Rolen, but putting a squad through this kind of theatrics is no good. And all of a sudden it is about money? I digress.

The Reds third baseman for the start of this season and the future is Todd Frazier. Frazier won the Rookie of the Year award as voted by the players last season. He didn’t get the genuine hardware though, that went to Washington outfielder/media mogul Bryce Harper.

I just did a drive-by of the starters at 3B for all the National League teams, and I can say without hesitation that Frazier is in up to his ears. There are no less than six others we need to scrutinize before declaring a winner. There are also other good ones that I passed by such as Pedro Alvarez, David Freese and Placido Polanco.

The six I have narrowed it down to are, in no certain order, Aramis Ramirez, David Wright, Michael Young, Pablo Sandoval, Chase Headley and Ryan Zimmerman. What a cast, eh?

Let us look at them in tabular format. To save a little horizontal space I am going to just use a signified number for each player in lieu of his name. If you are viewing this article on a mobile device, it will probably not be formatted correctly.

Statistics are for Career based on 162 games except

Errors and WAR which is just a yearly average

1= Frazier, 2=Ramirez, 3=Wright, 4=Young, 5=Sandoval, 6=Headley, 7=Zimmerman

Bold and italicized numbers are the high for that particular category.

Statistics are extracted from Baseball-Reference.com

That is a pretty good group of ball players right there. It is clear to see on first perusal that Wright is the cream of this crop. He averages over 100 runs, has the best plate discipline, has the highest OPS+ and the best WAR. He also averages 26 HR and 195 RBI, bats over .300 and steals 21 bases, high for a corner infielder.

On paper Frazier is like a cat in a den of lions. He does hit for extra bases higher than the rest and his error/yr rate is the best on the list. That statistic should be taken with a grain of salt as Frazier has played very little compared to the others. As you can plainly see he is not a top five candidate here.

If I were rating them from what I see in comparison, it would be the following:
1. Wright
2. Sandoval
3. Ramirez
4. Zimmerman
5. Young
6. Headley
7. Frazier

There can be no doubt about the winner. Wright is the complete package. If you want pure power, Ramirez is your boy. As for a pure hitter I like Young. He has a batting title to his credit, along with six 200+ hit seasons, five of them consecutively. Defensively, based on errors alone, it looks like Headley is probably on top, Frazier’s low sampling notwithstanding.

I see Headley with his 31 HR in 2012 as an anomaly, similar but not as outrageous as Brady Anderson in 1996 when he hit 50. In Headley’s case he hit only 36 HR in his other five years combined.

Frazier is only going to get better, look for him to climb this ladder.

National League wins again. NL 3 Reds 1. Up next, the shortstops.

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Not going to lie, a couple of these games are a little on the painful side to remember, but the individual performances by these guys is worth the recall.

Aug 20, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Frazier in the dugout prior to playing the Philadelphia Phillies (Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)

Position Player: Todd Frazier, July 1st @ San Francisco

When you look at the final result of this game, you might be wondering why a 4-3 loss can even be included in this. This was an odd game in that not only were the Reds without Joey Votto due to his ailing knee, but Frazier had to step in for Scott Rolen when Rolen experienced back spasms. There was also an exchange between Bronson Arroyo and Ryan Vogelsong during a Vogelsong AB. The final odd occurrence would come in the game’s final half-inning.

Onto to the ToddFather…

With Frazier getting the call due to Rolen’s achy back, he did quite well, thank you very much. As the top of the fifth approached, the Reds were trailing 1-0. Frazier would change that…

The lead wouldn’t last long as the Giants would push a run across the plate in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at 2 all on a Melky Cabrera single. (Should this game even count then?)

Until the ninth inning, neither team mounted much of a threat. The biggest threat came in the top of the seventh when the Reds had runners on first and second with only one out. Frazier would draw a walk in the inning and he and Ryan Ludwick were stranded after Miguel Cairo and Ryan Hanigan would be recorded as outs by Angel Pagan.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Giants would once again forge ahead after a Buster Posey single plated Ryan Theriot. Theriot was sitting on third due to a Logan Ondrusek wild pitch when Posey delivered.

The Reds had every opportunity to plate many runs in the top of the ninth as they loaded the bases. Frazier was in the middle of this as he would single with Jay Bruce on second and Ludwick on first. No runs scored on Frazier’s hit. Cairo followed with a single of his own, but only one run would score to tie up this game once more at 3-3.

The Reds would drop this game due to an odd play. Here’s how Mark Sheldon described the finish…

On a 3-1 pitch from Arredondo, Pagan lifted a long fly ball to the warning track in right field. Bruce appeared to be tracking the ball but misplayed his proximity to the wall. He jumped early as the ball sailed over his glove. The sellout crowd at AT&T Park erupted as the ball landed safely. Pagan reached on a double that scored Posey with the winning run.

“It was not as close to the wall as I thought it was. I missed it,” Bruce said. “It’s really, really embarrassing. It should be an error. It’s not. I pride myself on my defense.”

One other detail of this game that is not prevalent in scorebooks: a Todd Frazier defensive play.

The Giants had a chance to get to Arroyo early and the ToddFather throttled that chance with a web gem of his own.

Starting Pitcher: Mat Latos, June 25th v. Milwaukee

The pitching matchup was a good one: Latos and Yovani Gallardo. Latos would dominate the Brewers on this day. In fact, he would hurl his first complete game as a Red. And to display how Latos dominated the Brew Crew, he would face more than four batters in an inning only once, the first inning when Milwaukee sent five batters to the plate…and not score a run.

You needn’t check out the entire boxscore to see how well Latos pitched in this game. Here’s his linescore…

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/28/2012.

Yep, 13 whiffs total including three each of Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks. The only run the Brewers scored came on a Norichika Aoki home run in the top of the sixth. That homer was one of only four hits the Brewers would manage off Latos. Hard to believe there are three starting performances that are better. Honestly, there are three more and I believe you can guess at least one of those.

Relief Performer: Logan Ondrusek, April 26 v. San Francisco

Another game against the Giants and another loss. Gonna get those guys one day…but Ondrusek was simply superb in this outing. As he entered the game in the top of th eseventh, teh Reds were clinging to a 4-3 lead and teh Giants had runners on first and second, only one out. Due up…Melky Cabrera. Result: a weak popout to short. Next was Pablo Sandoval. Result: forceout of Angel Pagan at second on teh seventh pitch of the AB. Inning over. Crisis averted.

Ondrusek wasn’t done either. He would take the mound again in the eighth.

Posey: strikeout…looking on a 96 MPH fastball
Schierholtz: groundout to Votto
Belt: another strikeout looking on an 80 MPH backdoor slider

Five batters and not one ball left the infield. That’s getting the job done. Ondrusek held the fort, but the fort wouldn’t hold so well in the end.

If you recall, the Reds dropped this game after Sean Marshall allowed a three-run homer to Pagan. Not showing that highlight…or shall I say lowlight.

The #3′s are next.

Catch the other 2012 Top Performances:

Best of 2012: #5 Performances