Cincinnati Reds: Buy or sell for the 2020 regular season

Buy or Sell: Nick Senzel excels as the Reds centerfielder

This is an intriguing question. All season we’ve seen Nick Senzel‘s name bounced about in trade rumors. However, here we are just weeks before the start of the 2020 season, and all indications are that Senzel will be in a Cincinnati Reds uniform on Opening Day provided he’s fully recovered from shoulder surgery.

The reason we’ve heard so much talk surrounding Senzel this offseason was due, in part, to the Cincinnati Reds acquisition of Japanese outfielder Shogo Akiyama. Akiyama is a versatile outfielder, but has spent the majority of his career overseas playing center field.

Akiyama has played 10 games this spring, hitting .321/.367/.357. Nine of those 10 starts have come in center field, with only one of Akiyama’s starts coming in left field. To be fair, while Akiyama has held down the center field job, both Senzel and Travis Jankowski have missed virtually every Cactus League game due to injury.

Senzel is much too talented to ride the bench all season, but the Reds committed a lot of money to Akiyama. The key piece of how the Reds outfield unfolds this season may be Jesse Winker. Like Senzel, Winker finished the 2019 season on the injured list. The Reds left fielder has had a productive spring, hitting .368/.458/.421.

The one thing I’m sticking to is that Senzel’s presence in the Reds infield will be on a emergency basis only. I really think David Bell and the Cincinnati front office want to see the 24-year-old succeed in the outfield. For now, I’m going to hold off on labeling Senzel as the starting centerfielder for the Reds, but by season’s end, I expect him to find an every day spot in outfield.

Verdict: Buy