Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett will be sidelined for the next 8-12 weeks due to a right groin strain, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (Twitter link). Gennett suffered the injury yesterday during the second inning of the Reds’ Spring Training game, while making an awkward slide on a fielding play.
The news is a major blow to a Reds team that had a busy offseason in preparation for a return to contention in the NL Central. Now, Cincinnati will have to wait until mid-May at the earliest to welcome back their All-Star second baseman.
Gennett has been nothing short of outstanding since joining his hometown team prior to the 2017 season, as the infielder has hit .303/.351/.508 with 50 homers over 1135 plate appearances in a Reds uniform. Originally seen as something of a utility infield option when he first arrived with the team, Gennett’s emergence made him into an unexpected building block for the Reds, and perhaps even a long-term answer at second base (though recent extension talks hadn’t delivered much progress).
Gennett is scheduled to hit free agency after the season, and while the 29-year-old can still produce quite a bit over three or four months of action, his hopes of a big platform year have now been dented by this lengthy stint on the IL. He’ll have to hope for a relatively quick recovery and then no lingering after-effects from his groin strain, though on the plus side, Gennett has been a pretty durable player throughout the rest of his big league career.
The vacancy at second base will be filled by Jose Peraza, whose former shortstop role will be assumed by minor league signing Jose Iglesias. Peraza took a big step forward at the plate last season and actually grades out better defensively as a second baseman than as a shortstop, so the Reds should be in decent shape at the keystone. Iglesias is one of the sport’s better defensive shortstops, so he’ll bring value to the everyday lineup even if his hitting has generally been subpar. Derek Dietrich, also in camp on a minors contract, was already expected to make Cincinnati’s roster, and Gennett’s absence should solidify Dietrich’s spot as a backup utilityman.
Nick Senzel’s status won’t be impacted by the Gennett news, Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams told reporters (including C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). The top prospect has played second base in the past, though Senzel is still ticketed to begin the season at Triple-A and will be playing as a center fielder, in order to eventually help the Reds at that position.
That’s a huge injury for them
Lol after you just sent down your top prospect who just happens to be a natural second baseman.
he’s also not on the 40 man roster
He’s a natural third baseman.
He’s a natural. Give him a glove and he will be an upgrade at whatever position he plays.
Exactly.
Fact…
Not CF….too slow. Trammell will be the future CF for the Reds (and yes, he is building his arm strength up). Uber speed, which is what is the most necessary attribute for a CFer.
‘Lol’….yep Ian Burton, you’re a real jokester and an equally sharp analyst of the game. Accurate information is readily available to anyone that can spell Google.
they’re dropping like flies out here. Good for Dietrich at least.
Sucks. Best in his recovery.
if only they hadnt just shed Long…
luckily there’s Dietrich, Iglesias, Senzel, India etc etc etc
You missed something.
Who are the three etc
Trahan, Garcia, Rodriguez
Exactly. They have a number of folk that can play 2nd base.
Eat it.
Peraza to second and Iglesias to as is my guess.
Meant shortstop
Scooter may as well have slid through the barber shop window because is about to get ‘Gennett’ied by Senzel.
Senzel will be kept in the minors until at least April 12th.
Senzel now has even more of a case against the team. This is why young players are screaming and one of the reasons why the players will strike in 2022 if the owners don’t make some huge concessions.
Why should the owners make concessions? Players are paid a ridiculous salary and I don’t blame them for keeping him in the minors for 3-4 weeks where he can gain experience playing everyday!
Nobody ever stops and thinks that if this guy pans out your team will have him for an extra year.
If a team really is that worried about time clocks, sign the guy to a long term extension.
Major League Baseball player is quite possibly the most overpaid profession on the planet.
That’s not enough?
Explain? You’re one of the 800 best people on the planet at your profession and you work for an industry that is making record profits. How, again, are they overpaid?
Yawn
Reds owners are scum for what they’re doing to Senzel – there’s ZERO excuse now.
An extra year is plenty excuse
Oh cry about it Strike Four. Senzel hasn’t taken plays at second all spring. He is a converted third-baseman. We have Jose Iglesias and Derrick Deitrich. And as if that’s not reason enough, we can keep him for an entire extra season now.
Stop acting like the Reds owe Senzel some sort of loyalty; the players don’t deserve it. Every season we see players squeeze every last dollar out of teams. This is a business, #1. It goes both ways.
This has no bearing on Senzel. He’s played CF all of spring training. Even if it did the Reds would be fools to lose a year vs. losing 2wks. He has a players union, take it up with them.
Peraza will play 2nd according to Bell. He hasn’t played there since when? Probably years. Senzel played 2nd last year. It’s about money. Not winning
The extra year, which is in the agreement that the players union agreed to, combined with the fact that they have plenty of veterans to fill in for Scooter, make your stance of why Senzel and his agent should be even more upset null and voud. These are the cards, this is your hand, play them.
I fully get having him an extra year but if you want to win now that shouldn’t be a factor. So when Iglesias bats 200 or peraza has multiple errors causing losses that extra year doesn’t mean squat. Why even have spring training if he didn’t really have a shot
So you can’t afford Senzel getting to free agency a year early but can spend 25/ year on bailey. Each team got over 100 million in revenue sharing last year. That doesn’t include tv, tickets and food sales
Scum? Calm down @Strike. You act like baseball isn’t a business.
If the Reds played him now, they could well lose a year off him playing for the Reds…then fans would cry about the ownership not paying Senzel $20-$30 million a year for several more years. Easy to spend the owner’s money on a player when it’s not your checkbook. It’s a BUSINESS, not just a fan’s keyboard and internet fantasy/team sport!
Bad news for Scooter and the Reds. Good news for the rest of the division
Why does this dude keep saying injured list. It’s the disabled list or DL.
Not any more. It was renamed “injured list” this season because “disabled list” may be offensive to disabled people.
Lol how is it offensive to anyone. Its been the DL for 75 years. People get butthurt over the stupidest things.
I agree with you 100%. I was just giving the factual reasons why the name change as was publically stated by MLB.
I know what you were doing. I’m still gonna call it the DL. I’ll never say LA Angels they play in Anaheim no LA. Among many others. Even the chargers dont play in LA. They will always be the San deigo chargers.
The Jose Iglesias signing now looks even better. I think this may be a blessing in disguise if Jose Peraza works out at 2B. When Scooter returns, the Reds will be pretty solid. Does anyone really expect him to resign with CIN?
Losing some pop could hurt. Not impressed with overall spring training. Not enough reps for starters, and even their last day here minor leaguers batting too much. I know this is spring, but already accepting losing. Closer sure looked pitiful today.