Reds: 3 areas Cincinnati needs to clean up heading into May

3. The Reds need better production from the cleanup spot.

Whether you want to blame the player, the manager, or the owner is irrelevant. The bottom line is, the Cincinnati Reds need better production out of the No. 4 hole in the lineup. Eugenio Suarez has been a mainstay at that spot for the majority of this season, but of late, we’ve seen David Bell try a different spot in the order for his shortstop.

I’d like to think that Suarez will eventually emerge from his slump and begin to crush opposing pitchers as he’s done over the better part of his career. Unfortunately, Geno is hitting just .125 on the season, has just one game in which he’s had multiple hits, and is 6-for-63 (.095) over the last 16 games. In that span, Suarez has struck out 28 times. That’s a 44.4% strikeout-rate.

On the season, the No. 4 hole in Cincinnati’s lineup is slashing just .143/.255/.319. The .573 OPS is the worst in the lineup outside of the No. 9 spot (.556 OPS) in the batting order. The only promising aspect of the cleanup spot in the Reds order is that the No. 4 hole leads the team in walks with 13.

Bell seems to be trying to coax Suarez’s bat along while not totally disabling his offense. We’ve seen Nick Senzel and Alex Blandino snag a few starts in the leadoff spot in place Winker, which has caused Geno to be bumped down in the batting order.

The Reds skipper has tried to find ways to alternate between left-handed and right-handed bats atop the batting order, and following Senzel’s 4-for-4 performance on Wednesday, it stands to reason that Bell might try the former first-rounder as the Reds’ leadoff hitter going forward.

The Cincinnati Reds cannot afford to take Eugenio Suarez’s bat out of the lineup all together. You have to think that eventually Geno will come around. But, for now, perhaps the best spot for Suarez to hit is No. 5 or 6 in the batting order.