Cincinnati Reds continue to lean on home runs to their detriment

The Cincinnati Reds have built a team of sluggers without the pitching to support them.

The Cincinnati Reds have the worst starting pitching in MLB.  It may be the worst rotation in the history of the franchise.  Despite that, the Reds are in most games thanks to their ability to hit home runs.

The Reds are eighth in home runs in the majors and fourth in the National League.  Thanks to how many home runs that they have given up to the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, the Reds are third in the NL Central.  The Reds hit 186 homers in their first 130 games.

Despite ranking eighth in home runs, the Reds are only 12th in runs.  It’s not just about no getting on base ahead of the home run hitters.  They are tenth in the majors in on-base percentage.

The issue is batting average.  The Reds only rank sixteenth in the majors in batting average.  So the Reds are not aligning their home runs with long innings when the opposition throws strikes.

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What has been keeping the Reds afloat offensively is there OPS.  They get on base and hit for enough power to keep them in games.  That has been an improvement over last year.

The Cincinnati Reds have individual players that are having great years,  but some are just swinging for the fences.

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The Reds already have five batters with 20 or more home runs in Joey Votto, Adam Duvall, Eugenio Suarez, Scott Schebler, and Scooter Gennett.  Shortstop Zack Cozart is on pace for 20, if he stays healthy.  Not all of these home runs are equal.  Votto’s offensive season shows that, while Gennett hit four home runs in one game.

Duvall, Gennett, and Schebler have OBP below .350.  The other three are above .350 with Votto at .442.  Votto and Cozart usually bat back-to-back meaning that after that the home runs are more likely to be solo shots.

Duvall, Schebler, and Suarez all have batting averages below .275.  Duvall and Schebler have become mostly straight sluggers.  The former All-Star Duvall is better than last year, but this is still an issue.

This isn’t all the fault of the sluggers, though.  The lead-off hitter, center fielder Billy Hamilton, possesses a OBP of .297.  That contributes to having too many solo shots from there home runs.

Next: Why the Reds needed to bring up Tyler Mahle

With an historically bad pitching rotation the Reds have been fighting a slugging battle.  They have six batter with at least 20 home runs.  Unfortunately, the batters are not getting on base enough.