Cincinnati Reds’ offense is ready for productive summer in 2017 with familiar faces

As the 2017 spring turns to summer, the Cincinnati Reds are set to have a better offensive season than last year.

In 2016 the Cincinnati Reds’ offense was held back by a lack of home runs and OBP.  Ironically, in the year that the pitching staff gave up a historic number of home runs, the offense ranked 11th in home runs in the National League.  Playing in Great American Ballpark that won’t happen again in 2017.

First baseman Joey Votto and left fielder Adam Duvall will both hit more than 25 home runs, especially with their starts to this season.  If they stay healthy, Votto’s heir apparent at first Eugenio Suarez, shortstop Zack Cozart and catcher Devin Mesoraco should all hit at least 15 home runs.  That means the rest of the offense needs to hit 75 home runs to create a substantial increase from 2016.

The reason this number seems attainable is the new faces in the everyday line-up.  Former Atlanta Braves phenom Jose Peraza and right fielder Scott Schebler both have the potential to be better offensive players than the players that they replaced.  Schebler in particular will decide if the Reds are better in 2017.

Schebler should hit more than 15 home runs, but his OBP should help even more.  While the Reds had trouble with home run last season, the OBP issue was almost as big.  Of the starters for Cincinnati only Cozart, Duvall, and Mesoraco don’t expect to have OBP well above .300.  With Tucker Barnhart splitting time with Mesoraco, the catching position should be close to .300 in OBP.

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The Cincinnati Reds believe in addition by subtraction, sending a couple of long time Reds on their way.

Seven of the eight position player who started opening day this year were on the opening day roster last year.  The only exception is second baseman Jose Peraza who didn’t come up until mid-season.  Schebler and Duvall platooned in left, but both were on the roster.

Last year’s starting right fielder, Jay Bruce, left during the season for the New York Mets.  Last year’s starting second baseman, Brandon Phillips, left late in the off-season for his hometown Atlanta Braves.  They led the team on the field with professionalism, but OBP consistency issues plagued their time in Cincinnati.

The hope is that Peraza and Schebler can consistently get on base.  With Cozart on the trading block, another low OBP player could be off the team by the All-Star Game.  Whether it is Dilson Herrera or Scooter Gennett that makes the starting line-up after the deal, the OBP should increase.

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Between the higher home run floor and the increased OBP skill on this year’s team, the Reds are ready to score more runs in 2017.  Manager Bryan Price needs to be regularly reviewing the line-up.  He will judge whether Duvall and Mesoraco are producing enough OBP to stay in the line-up.  If everything works right, the Reds will improve four games on offense alone.