Cincinnati Reds: Nick Senzel has invigorated the offense since debut

Since Nick Senzel debuted last Friday, the Cincinnati Reds have scored 37 runs in just 4 games. Coincidence or not, Senzel’s presence has sparked the offense.

Nick Senzel made his major league debut on Friday and ever since then, the Cincinnati Reds offense has been clicking on all cylinders. Whether it’s coincidence or not, Reds fans cannot be happier with the debut of the team’s top prospect who now has three homer runs in just four games.

Over the last four games, the Cincinnati Reds hit 15 home runs and, as a team, are batting .280 with a 1.010 OPS. Before this four game stretch, the Reds were hitting barely above the Mendoza line with a combined average of .207 and had 39 home runs in 31 games.

This is the Reds’ offense we’ve been waiting to see. While the pitching, unfortunately, didn’t hold as it been, the Reds’ bats still allowed Cincinnati to hit the road for Oakland with a series-split against the San Francisco Giants.

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Nick Senzel, who batted in the leadoff spot yesterday, began the first and second inning with a home run to the opposite field. This young man has power and he’s not afraid to use it. Combine that with the power we’ve seen from Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich, and the power we now that Eugenio Suárez has, and this team is primed to show off the pop in their bats.

It’s a small sample size, but in Senzel’s first 4 games, he has an OPS of 1.146 with 3 homers. The much ballyhooed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only 1 more hit than Senzel in 4 more games played and an OPS of .465.

Was Nick Senzel the spark this team needed to get going offensively? Eugenio Suárez is 4-for-14 (.285) Jose Iglesias has gone 5-for-14 (.357), Yasiel Puig is 6-for-13 (.462), Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich are both 5-for-10 (.500) since last Friday. I’m sure a return to the hitter-friendly confines of Great American Ball Park didn’t hurt either.

We all know how beneficial hitting in GABP can be, however, outside of a three-game series with the struggling Miami Marlins, the Reds bats have been pretty dormant at home. Entering the 4-game set with the Giants, the Reds had 17 round trippers at home and 22 on the road.

The Cincinnati Reds head out west for a six-game road trip to Northern California. They will visit the Oakland Athletics beginning tonight and will head across the bay to San Francisco and play a weekend series with the same Giants that just visited GABP.

Hopefully bats and Nick Senzel will remain hot on their road trip. A winning trip to California would put the Cincinnati Reds dangerously close to the .500 mark. I’d look for David Bell to put Senzel in the leadoff spot a few more times during the six-game trip to try and give the Reds a boost on the road.