Cincinnati Reds: Kyle Farmer should shine following Eugenio Suárez injury

While we don’t know the extent of Eugenio Suárez’s injury, he’s likely to miss some time. The Cincinnati Reds will likely turn to Kyle Farmer in his stead.

During the fifth inning of last night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, third baseman Eugenio Suárez was struck in the left hand by a 93-MPH fastball. Suárez was forced to leave the game and replaced at third base by Kyle Farmer. While the Cincinnati Reds will definitely miss Suárez’s bat in the lineup, Farmer has a chance to solidify his standing with the team heading into next season.

The possibility of losing Suárez would be devastating for the Reds. Sure, the team is sitting 12.5 games back in the division, but Cincinnati is still trying to make improvements and losing your best offensive player for any length of time is going to take a toll. Especially for a team like Cincinnati who struggles to score runs.

We’ll know more about Geno’s status before today’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Suárez will miss today’s series opener at Great American Ball Park. Filling in will likely be utility player-extraordinaire, Kyle Farmer. Farmer has seen action all over the diamond this season, but was primarily a third baseman with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The majority of this season has seen Farmer playing second base rather than third. No surprise there, as Suárez is one of the best third basemen in the game and rarely takes a night off. However, Farmer has played nine games at the hot corner while also filling in at catcher and first base as well.

While some fans may disagree with my assessment, I have no problem saying it; Kyle Farmer was the best acquisition from the December trade with the Dodgers. While that’s an easy statement to make now that Yasiel Puig is helping the Cleveland Indians chase a postseason berth and Alex Wood has fallen on his face, I believed that to be true before the calendar flipped to August.

Look, I loved what Puig brought to the Cincinnati Reds this season. He was energetic, had a flair for the dramatic and brought a certain toughness to club. He was, by all accounts, a great teammate as well.

That being said, there was no way that the Reds front office was going to keep Puig into next season. At most, Cincinnati may have offered Puig a qualifying offer to keep him in the Queen City for one more season. That would’ve come a price tag of about $18M and a long-term deal obviously wasn’t in the cards.

Then there’s explosive rookie season of Aristides Aquino that followed Puig’s departure. While I’m sure Dick Williams and Nick Krall never envisioned that The Punisher was going to dominate the way he has, the pleasant surprise helps ease the loss of Puig for Reds Country and give Cincinnati a fixture in right field for the next five-plus seasons.

Back to Kyle Farmer. In less than 160 at-bats, the 29-year-old has 8 home runs and 25 RBIs. In his last seven games, Farmer owns a .455 slugging percentage. In very limited playing time this season, Farmer has provided power and very solid defense. In fact, outside of José Iglesias, the most dynamic defensive plays from the Reds this season have come from Farmer.

Farmer, like Aquino, is under team control through the 2024 season and won’t reach arbitration until 2022. His presence on the Cincinnati Reds gives David Bell a solid right-handed bat off the bench who can play multiple positions. His ability to get behind the dish and play catcher may make Farmer one of the most indispensable pieces on the Reds roster.

A likely increase in playing time over the next several weeks will give Farmer a chance to prove that he deserves more opportunities in 2020. Though the Reds likely view him as nothing more than a utility player, it’s a role that Bell and the rest of the coaching staff are happy to have him fill.