Cincinnati Reds found a low usage, highly reliable bench player in Ryan Raburn, but his defense fell apart

The Cincinnati Reds signed Ryan Raburn to add flexibility and experience to a thin bench.

Ryan Raburn would have brought much needed experience to an inexperienced bench for the Cincinnati Reds.  In his  career Raburn has been both a starter and a back-up.  For the Reds he would likely have been a lightly used bench player.

Last year Raburn started 44 games in left field, pairing up with Gerardo Parra for the Colorado Rockies.  He also played in right field and first base last year.  He only started about half the games in which he played last season.

Throughout his career, Raburn has started games in all three outfield positions, first base, second base, and third base.  While he no longer has the speed to cover center, the Reds thought that he could still play the rest of the positions when they signed him.  His range at second base was so weak that the Reds cut him with a week left in spring training.

The Reds wanted Raburn to reprise the role that he played for the Rockies last year.  His primary role was second man off of the bench.  That meant a fair amount of being part of a double switch and getting occasional pinch hit at bats.  That role ended up going to waiver wire claim Scooter Gennett.

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Raburn was well suited for the role as it is similar to the one he played for the Rockies last year.  He has been slowly transitioning to a low usage bench player for the past few years.  In his first year in the National League in 2016 he showed that he was still strong at getting on base, but Gennett’s defensive expertise at second base ended up being the deciding factor.

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Thanks to Arismendy Alcantara’s flexibility, the Cincinnati Reds can still build the type of bench they want to use.

With Alcantara anchoring the bench, the Reds were able to keep any two other batters that they wanted.  It will allowed the Reds to keep Gennett around as the left-handed batter off of the bench.  It also gives the Reds a better spot for Patrick Kivlehan as the primary pinch hitter on the roster.  Alcantara can play the same positions that Jose Peraza played last year.  He’s only been playing outfield since 2014.

Alcantara’s flexibility will also allow the Reds to carry three catchers on the roster later in the season.  With Devin Mesoraco coming back from injury the Reds will need to have a back-up for Tucker Barnhart on the days that Mesoraco can’t go.  Without a player like Alcantara the Reds would have kept Chad Wallach for his ability to play third base as the third catcher.

If Raburn had produced enough defensively, it also have allowed the Reds to change their roster however they want to when the injuries and trades happen.  Raburn could have been the back-up outfielder one week and back-up the infield the next.  He can also be the primary pinch hitter off of the bench, although his offense has dipped in recent years.

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The signing of Raburn didn’t solve the potential long term issues on the bench for the Reds.  What it could have allowed the Reds to do is experiment on the bench without ending up in an untenable position this year.  If Alcantara does well enough in Raburn’s role, he may even find himself in the Reds’ long term plans.