Cincinnati Reds: Are Freddy Galvis and José Iglesias really that different?

A lot of fans are clamoring for the Cincinnati Reds to trade for a shortstop, but is Freddy Galvis all that different from José Iglesias?

Several folks throughout Reds Country are bummed that the front office did not re-sign José Iglesias. After seeing the Baltimore Orioles sign Iglesias to a one-year/$2.5M contract with incentives, fans are even more enraged. But, are Iglesias and Freddy Galvis, the most likely player to suit up for the Cincinnati Reds at shortstop, really all that different?

Okay, I’ll admit, I loved watching José Iglesias play defense last season. Fans in the Queen City hadn’t seen a player put together those type of defensive plays since Brandon Phillips was in his prime. Had the front office decided to hang onto Iglesias heading into 2020, I wouldn’t have argued too harshly.

However, let’s not forget, if it weren’t for an injury to Scooter Gennett during spring training, José Peraza would’ve started the season at shortstop. Heck, after the season Peraza had in 2018, no one would’ve criticized the decision. In fact, coming off a year in which he led the Reds in hits, most fans would’ve lost their minds had Peraza lost his starting job to Iglesias.

Now, we all know that Peraza’s woeful performance at the plate in 2019 earned him a plane ticket out of town. The “shortstop of the future” hit .239 and was outplayed by Iglesias in every facet of the game. Peraza was non-tendered by the Reds this past year and is now with the Boston Red Sox.

My point is, we would never have seen the best of José Iglesias had Gennett not injured his groin. Iglesias would’ve likely filled a bench role, backing up Peraza and giving the Reds a reliable glove for late-game situations. Don’t forget, before last season, Iglesias’ career-OPS was just .678.

A career-season, in which everyone in baseball was seeing an increase in power, led Iglesias to hit .288 with a career-high .407 slugging percentage. Iglesias nearly doubled his previous career-high in home runs and also had a career-high 59 RBIs. It seemed like Iglesias always came up clutch when the Reds needed a big hit.

However, José Iglesias also set a career-high in strikeouts (70). A lot of fans like to point out his .288 batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position. Iglesias also owned an 3.8% walk-rate according to FanGraphs, a career-low for the shortstop. The reasons Iglesias had so many two-out hits, is because he swung at nearly everything under the sun.

Now, this isn’t about bashing José Iglesias, but rather it’s about pumping up Freddy Galvis. A lot of the same qualities fans enjoyed while watching Iglesias, they’ll likely see if Galvis is the Reds starting shortstop on Opening Day.

Galvis is the same slick-fielding infielder as Iglesias, we just rarely saw him play anything other than second base in 2019. Galvis has the same approach at the dish where he swings first and asks questions later, as evidenced by his 4.8% walk-rate according to FanGraphs. Galvis had career-high 23 home runs and 70 RBIs in 2019.

Some fans see Galvis as nothing more than a bench bat. That’s a bit unfair, as the switch-hitting shortstop has played over 145 games per season since 2015, gathering 550 at-bats every year. During those past five seasons, Galvis has an OPS+ of 84, just one point lower than Iglesias’ 85 OPS+ he put up last season.

While all of Reds Country wants to see Francisco Lindor or Corey Seager join Cincinnati, the player currently slated to open the season at shortstop is no slouch. Of course, we’d love to see Lindor or Seager don a Reds jersey in 2020, but Freddy Galvis will be just fine if he’s manning shortstop on March 26th against the Cardinals.