Cincinnati Reds: Freddy Galvis is better than you think

While most Cincinnati Reds fans were dazzled by the defensive exploits of José Iglesias, Freddy Galvis is quite the defensive shortstop as well.

Last year Reds Country marveled at the defensive exploits of shortstop José Iglesias. Every night it seemed Iglesias was making plays worthy of the highlight reel. However, for a team that struggled to score as much as the 2019 Cincinnati Reds, his lack of power at the plate often left the offense in an unenviable position.

Entering the 2020 season, the Reds offense will reap the benefits of an offseason spending spree that brought Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Nick Castellanos to the Queen City. Inserting Freddy Galvis into the everyday lineup will also help as well.

While many Reds fans have clamored for an upgrade at shortstop, this team can easily play into October with Galvis patrolling the middle of the diamond. During the 2019 season, Cincinnati Reds shortstops finished 25th in the majors in slugging percentage and 28th in homers. Those numbers will drastically improve with Freddy Galvis as the everyday shortstop.

The only National League shortstops to exceed Galvis’ 23 homers last year were Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies, Javer Baez of the Chicago Cubs and Paul DeJong of the St. Louis Cardinals. Not bad company, but the good news only gets better.

Last season, Reds middle infielders combined for 34 round trippers. Mike Moustakas hit 35 himself with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019. Together, the left-handed hitting Moustakas and the switch-hitting Galvis would have equaled the 58 home runs hit by Chicago Cubs middle infielder, which was the most in the senior circuit.

While we were routinely amazed by the glove of José Iglesias, a strong argument can be made that Freddy Galvis is even better with the leather. Galvis is the career active leader with a .9846 fielding percentage among shortstops.

That number ranks Galvis just ahead of his predecessor Iglesias. Even more impressive, Galvis’ fielding percentage is ranked second all-time for shortstops trailing only former Cleveland Indians great Omar Vizquel.

Even though many Reds fans have kept their fingers crossed for the club acquiring Francisco Lindor or Corey Seager in a blockbuster deal, there’s absolutely no reason to panic regarding the shortstop position. If the Reds enters opening day with Galvis as the perceived weakest link, this will be a team with all the pieces in place to make an October playoff run.