Cincinnati Reds: Three players hindered by virus-related hiatus

1. Jesse Winker is the Reds best offensive player.

At the moment, there’s not a hotter hitter in all of Major League Baseball than Jesse Winker. The left-handed slugger has exceeded expectations thus far, and after a slow-start, Winker is absolutely locked-in. Hopefully this time away from the game will not affect his swing, because Winker is one of the few Reds who’d actually hitting.

Winker was a man without a position entering training camp in February. The Reds had just acquired Japanese outfielder Shogo Akiyama and doubles-machine Nick Castellanos. Looking for Nick Senzel to reach his lofty exceptions, it appeared as though Winker would be the odd-man out in the Cincinnati outfield rotation.

Thank goodness for the universal DH, right? Many Reds fans detested the idea of bring the designated hitter to the National League. Major League Baseball added a universal DH as part of its 60-game season. It gave Jesse Winker a spot in the everyday lineup and the results have been phenomenal.

Over the past 15 games, Winker is slashing .425/.521/.875. Shrink the sample size even smaller, and over the past seven games, Jesse Winker is hitting .650/.720/1.500. You read that correctly, Winker’s OPS in the last seven games is 2.220. Let’s hope Winker treats this minor delay like the All-Star break and gets back to work when the Reds return to the field.