Cincinnati Reds are faced with a decision about Jose Peraza that will impact entire team

The Cincinnati Reds don’t know what to make of Jose Peraza defensively.

Jose Peraza was the Cincinnati Reds’ major return for Todd Frazier. When the trade was made, the obvious plan was for Peraza to replace Brandon Phillips for the 2017 season.  Since that time, Peraza has split his season between Louisville and Cincinnati floating between the infield and the outfield.

From a batting order perspective, Peraza makes the most sense as the second place batter, assuming that the Billy Hamilton Experiment (BHE) isn’t over.  The BHE has let Reds fans see some of the best defense and base running any of us has ever seen.  It has also seen a batter that has bounced back and forth between being lead-off ready and fourth outfielder ready.

If Peraza is going to bat second, the two fielding locations that probably make the most sense are second base and right field.  Second base makes sense because Phillips is leaving Cincinnati one way or another come the end of the 2016 season.  Right field is the other location because, while Scott Schebler has shown tremendous improvement since his initial run with the Reds, he has still shown trouble hitting left-handed pitchers.

At the August deadline Jay Bruce left the Reds in exchange for second base prospect Dilson Herrera.  Eventhough the Reds plan on starting Herrera at second next year, he is still in Louisville.

If the Reds don’t know what they have in Herrera, it will make it difficult to make a decision on Peraza.

Center field and shortstop may be in play for Peraza.

On the other hand it may be time to pull the plug on the BHE.  Hamilton has had three years to show the Reds that he is ready to be an elite player.  This is the first year that he was anywhere close to acceptable  as  a major league outfielder offensively.  The end of the BHE would put center field into play for Peraza.

Peraza has played 7 games for Cincinnati this year in center and 23 games in his minor league career.  The Reds have finally decided to place Peraza in center field everyday and end the BHE, maybe.  It would replace an athlete in Hamilton with whatever bat they have at second.  Whether Herrera is better than Hamilton is also a complete unknown.

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Then again, there is the complete rebuilding theory, in which Peraza could replace Zack Cozart at shortstop.  Peraza started 58 games at short during his time in Louisville this season.  He played 14 since joining the Reds this season.  If Peraza is the shortstop in 2017, Cozart will be playing somewhere else as the everyday shortstop.