The Cincinnati Reds have played some good baseball of late, in large part due to the production of several young players.
The oddsmakers at BetMGM still don’t think much of their playoff chances, as the Reds have +2500 odds to win the division despite sitting only three games back in the National League Central.
Cincinnati, which is 26-30 on the year, has a run-differential of negative-28 this year and had a projected win total of only 71 heading into 2023, so the pessimism is understandable.
But there is also reason to be optimistic.
The Reds have four different youngsters that are in the discussion for National League Rookie of the Year — two that are playing well in the Big Leagues right now, and two more prospects that could be up in short order.
Here is a look at that quartet, and how strong seasons from them could keep the Reds in the playoff discussion for much of the year.
SS Elly De La Cruz
Rookie of the Year Odds: +1800 at BetMGM (4th in the N.L.)
De La Cruz hasn’t even played a game in the MLB this season but still is among the favorites to win Rookie of the Year. The 21-year-old has been phenomenal this season in the minors and has rocketed up the charts of the best prospects in baseball.
He is an incredibly toolsy player who has the potential to reach superstardom. Big league pitching could give him some early issues, but if De La Cruz adapts well, the Rookie of the Year chatter will only increase as the season moves along.
Atlanta’s Michael Harris II was called up in late May of last season and went on to win Rookie of the Year despite playing in only 114 games, so it’s far from unprecedented for De La Cruz to take the league by storm and claim the hardware.
SS Matt McLain
Rookie of the Year odds: +2500 at BetMGM (T-7th)
McLain has only played in 15 games in the majors this season but has been unbelievable. He is hitting .354 with an OPS+ of 152 and has already accumulated 0.9 WAR.
The BABIP sits at .488 and obviously that will come down, but this start has gotten McLain into the mix. He is fresh off a National League Player of the Week award and is projected to be an above average hitter the rest of the way by FanGraphs.
This is a small sample size but the production can not be taken away, and if McLain can sustain most of it, he could make a run at the hardware.
1B Spencer Steer
Rookie of the Year odds: +3000 at BetMGM (10th)
While his defense can be suspect, Steer has done nothing but hit this season. He is slashing .289/.358/.500 with an OPS+ of 126 on the year.
Steer is in the top-10 of the Rookie of the Year odds along with his two teammates, and has the type of track record and tools to suggest he will continue to hit the rest of the way. Voters will take defense and position into account, so Steer does have an uphill battle in that regard, but if his OPS remains shiny, he will stay on the short-list of candidates.
1B Christian Encarnacion-Strand
Rookie of the Year odds: +6000 at BetMGM (17th)
Like De La Cruz, Encarnacion-Strand has yet to play a game with the Reds’ big-league club. But he’s also terrorizing the baseball in the minors, which means he could be yet another Cincinnati player in the mix for the National League Rookie of the Year.
Encarnacion-Strand is hitting .345 with 14 homers and 36 RBIs in 34 games at Triple-A and currently boasts a ridiculous OPS+ of 171.
He has very impressive power, and a home run spree at the major league level could turn some heads. Many believe the call-ups of De La Cruz and Encarnacion-Strand are imminent.
If they can continue their hot hitting in the bigs, and if Steer and McLain keep it up, Cincinnati could become a legitimate contender to win the National League Central.
And while the Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll is the current runaway favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year, the Reds have strength in numbers as they try to track him down.
