Reds, White and Blue

 

I will give the Reds credit. This team is currently resembling a functioning baseball club way more than the April version of them did. There are more people actually playing well, including actual Reds veterans like Tyler Mahle, Luis Castillo, Kyle Farmer and now Nick Senzel. There are more signs of life in the youth movement, like Graham Ashcraft pitching really well, and Michael Papierski looking like a fun catching prospect in Stephenson's absence. 

Granted, this team is still the worst in the NL, and will likely lose some valuable pieces later this month, but thanks to some pitching energy, it's nowhere near as dire as it was.

Look, I'm not saying it's perfect, and it really isn't, but having Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Graham Ashcraft and Hunter Greene all in decent shape and playing relatively well certainly helps. Mahle and Greene are just striking everybody out, so that helps. With all the inexperience that this rotation began with, to have four really sturdy, trusted rotation options [and also Mike Minor] is a definite improvement. I wonder how things will go once Nick Lodolo rejoins the fold tomorrow night. True, the Reds will likely lose because A.) the Mets are way better than they are and B.) Max Scherzer, but I wanna see how Lodolo does now.

Additionally, being able to say that Jonathan India, Kyle Farmer, Brandon Drury and Nick Senzel are all trusted infield options is a very good thing. Farmer and Drury both seem like backup options, but both are having nice seasons. Farmer's hitting .280 with 39 RBIs, seconded only by Drury's 40 RBIs. Drury also has 16 home runs. Even if he touched these numbers as a member of the Diamondbacks, it's nice to be reassure that Brandon Drury can still hit for power. Both India and Senzel have been catching up in the past week or so. Even with the disappointments of this roster [Moustakas, Naquin, ultimately Votto], there's enough people that just do what they're supposed to.

I still don't see this team accomplishing much this season, but there's definitely a lot of heroes to follow, and a lot that will remain after the deadline.

Coming Tonight: A pitcher for a team that's been really struggling for pitching this year.