Cincinnati Reds left fielder Adam Duvall slows down at the break

The Cincinnati Reds had five sluggers heading into the All-Star break led by left fielder Adam Duvall.

The Cincinnati Reds had three sluggers with twenty or more home runs and two more with double digit home run totals in the first half.  Duvall joined perennial MVP candidate, first baseman Joey Votto and right fielder Scott Schebler with 20 or more home runs at the break.  Third baseman Eugenio Suarez and second baseman Scooter Gennett also had more than ten each.

The quintet had a combined 95 home runs at the break.  Having any five members of a single team averaging 19 home runs each is pretty impressive.  Having the shortstop fall one home run short of having an entire infield of 10 or more home runs is even more impressive.

The quintet was good at getting on base as well.  All five batters had an OBP of at least .300.  Suarez and Schebler, though, did only bat .254.

Duvall, meanwhile, displayed his athleticism by ranking third on the team with 5 steals.  He also led the team with 27 doubles and 61 RBIs.  That doubles number was good for third in the National League and fourth in the majors.

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Duvall wasn’t perfect.  He had a team high 89 strikeouts.  He also only walked 21 times.

Since the second half has started, Adam Duvall has not been as strong offensively for the Cincinnati Reds.

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Since the All-Star break, Duvall has played in ten of the eleven games.  In those ten games he has struck out an amazing 14 times.  Over 162 games that would be 227 times.

He also only has seven hits in 38 at-bats.  Of those seven hits only one is an extra-base hit, a double.  Without any other extra-base hits, Duvall’s slugging percentage is a paltry .211.

With only two base on balls Duvall’s walk rate has dropped even lower than the first half.  Between his .184 batting average and low walk rate, his OBP is only .295.

That is not good enough for an offensive player the level of Duvall.

As a team, the Reds actually are only batting .227.  They hit 12 home runs in the first 10 games after the break, but that is actually a bit of a down turn.  The Reds were over 1.5 home runs per game in the first half.

Duvall is still batting clean-up.  He also has had a day off and started a game at DH.  The Reds know that they have to do something to jump start Duvall and the team.

Next: Who's headed out the door?

Duvall will likely return to normalcy and prove the doubters wrong again.  Last season a low OBP was his curse.  Hopefully, that albatross doesn’t return over the next few months.