Reds vs. White Sox: Pitching preview, prediction, and more

Reds’ slugger Eugenio Suarez is showing signs of life.

A strong argument can be made that shortstop Eugenio Suarez was not only the Reds worst player in April, but maybe in all of baseball. Let’s hope this is the last time we have to reference numbers like this.

Through the first month of the season, Geno slashed an embarrassing .130/.229/.304 with 40 strikeouts in 90 at-bats. His -1.0 bWAR is the worst in the National League. It’s almost unfathomable to think a player of his caliber could be so bad, but here we are.

Hopefully, this past weekend was a harbinger of things to come.  Throughout his career, the sight of Chicago Cubs pitching has brought out the best in Eugenio Suarez and this weekend was no different.

The Cincinnati slugger went 4-for-14 with two homers and four runs knocked home. Here’s hoping another Chicago pitching staff will induce a similar outburst for a player the Reds must have at his best in order to contend.

Prediction: Reds vs White Sox

Outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago White Sox are probably the best team the Cincinnati Reds have faced during the young 2021 season. I would not be surprised in the least to see those two teams (Dodgers and White Sox) facing each other in late October.

After Wednesday, the Reds and Sox won’t see each other again until the final week of the season in the Windy City. Once the Reds hit the south side in late September, they will be looking to break the stalemate as the two squads will split the series in Cincinnati.