Cincinnati Reds: What milestones are at stake as the season ends?

In a season that’s all but lost, a few members of the Cincinnati Reds have a chance to attain some personal goals and milestones.

The 2018 season has been one to forget for most members of the Cincinnati Reds. That’s definitely been the case for the fans. But, with the 2018 season coming to a close, there are some individual awards and career milestones at stake over the last three games.

Jose Peraza has had a breakout season. He is currently tied with his teammate, Scooter Gennett, with 181 hits on the season. That’s good enough for third best in the National League, behind only Atlanta’s Nick Markakis and Freddie Freeman.

With 4 more hits, Peraza would tie the mark for hits by a Reds’ shortstop set by Barry Larkin back in 1990. He’ll likely have three more games to tie or break that record. Peraza is 1-for-2 against the Pittsburgh starter for Friday night, Nick Kingham. Jameson Tallion takes the hill on Saturday, and Peraza is hitting .364 off him this season with a home run.

More from Blog Red Machine

• Reds vs. White Sox: Pitching preview, prediction, and more
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin adds another twist to offseason roster construction
• Reds: Signing Tyler Mahle to a contract extension should be a top priority
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin should get first major league start vs Pirates
• Reds should unquestionably bring Wade Miley back in 2022

Scooter Gennett is having a phenomenal season for the Reds and was neck and neck with Christian Yelich earlier in the month. But, Yelich has just been on a tear of late and is tracking down the NL MVP. Gennett is hitting .313 and Yelich has a .321 batting average. Unfortunately, it looks like the batting title is going to be out of reach for the Reds second baseman.

Joey Votto, however, looks to have a stranglehold on the NL lead for on-base percentage. Votto’s OBP is .417 and he looks uncatchable. Brandon Nimmo of the New York Mets is No. 2 with an OBP of .401. This will be Votto’s third consecutive season leading the National League in on-base percentage.

Eugenio Suarez was tracking the NL lead in home run and RBIs for quite some time but has hit a wall in the month of September. The Cincinnati Reds All-Star third baseman is out of the top 10 in home runs and it feels like he’s been stuck on 101 RBIs forever. He trails the Cubs Javier Baez by 10 in that category.

There’s no doubt that Geno is having a career year and is likely the best offensive weapon that the Reds have, however, you have to question his lack of production during the month of September. The Reds’ slugger is slashing .205/.311/.295 in the final month of the season after slashing .294/.375/.556 during the rest of the year.

Several members of the Cincinnati Reds infield are having career years at the plate. As the season comes to close this weekend at Great American Ball Park, hopefully, Reds fans have a few things to cheer for. The Reds play the Pirates tonight at 6:40 PM ET when Anthony DeSclafani takes the hill for the Redlegs.