Reds infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, manager David Bell announced (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The Reds expect Senzel to miss approximately four to six weeks.
The news come five days after the Reds placed Senzel on the 10-day IL, and it’s the latest injury-related setback the former second overall pick and premium prospect has endured in his young career. Senzel previously dealt with issues with his shoulder (including surgery), ankle, groin, and finger, and he also missed time with an illness last season.
Thanks in part to his ongoing health woes, the 25-year-old Senzel hasn’t yet established himself as hoped in the majors. Since he debuted in 2019, Senzel has batted .246/.308/.396 with 15 home runs and 18 stolen bases in 616 plate appearances. He was off to a .252/.323/.315 start this year with one long ball and two steals over 124 PA prior to this injury.
Defensively, Senzel has been quite versatile, having made starts this season at second, third and in center field (primarily the latter). Cincinnati has mostly used Tyler Naquin in center when Senzel hasn’t played there, while the Reds have Jonathan India and Eugenio Suarez as their current starters at second and third. However, their infield is also without regulars Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas, who are on the IL.
It is flat out irresponsible what the Reds have done with him. This guy might have been a really good player but why draft a 3b and play him all over the field? Then they draft India next who I like a lot he’s a good one I get it but you don’t need more 3b. Suarez is not playing well I think he got hurt trying to play shortstop. Such a preventable mess.
Seriously? Dodgers move their young guys all over the place and they don’t get hurt. Nick has had crap luck. And everyone forgets Suarez had shoulder surgery before last season which is when he started hitting like garbage. I hate Castellini with a passion but the org did nothing to cause these things
Many of his injuries have been from playing out of position. You can maybe put a guy at 1b but center field? No that’s how guys get hurt. And he keeps getting hurt. Being versatile ok cool but they keep playing him in positions he has no business playing. Maybe a Reds fan can chime in.
Not true he once went on injured list by sliding head first into second base and hurt his shoulder. He gets injured dong routine things like rounding a base and then tweaks his knee or hamstring. He actually played very well in center field and hurt his shoulder a couple of times diving to make a catch.
Just seems like it might be a conditioning thing with him or he is just very unlucky,,,not sure. either way he cant seem to stay healthy but I do think the organization did a bad job of putting together this roster. Alot of teams are guilty of that .
Do you have full on statistical data that suggests it’s just because of position changing? Center field is demanding but this guy was already facing injuries before it was his full time thing. Not to mention he had battled with vertigo and that’s something that can still linger. I hate the Reds’ front office and handling of guys but this guy is injury prone.
Do you have any facts Joel or just an opinion based on nothing?
Not true, his injury issues go all the way back to college. It’s not something that just started with the Reds. And you bring up Suarez, his natural position is SS. He was a SS when he came over from Detroit, the Reds are the one’s who moved him to 3b.
Not sure why you are such a Reds basher and Castellini hater but likely you are a red sox or yankess fan that seems to have an over all disregard for Cincinnati
and hop on any chance to hit them while they are down. Castellini has not been successful owning the team .. Noone can argue that, As a Reds fan it is getting old to witness the losing year in and year out
Agree with you, this kid has had horrible luck.
It’s beyond bad luck. He’s been fragile since his first year in the minors.
The Reds arent the first team to draft a player and move him,,, having said that the Reds have a done a poor job of constructing this roster. Senzel in part ,you have to feel for the guy but on the flip side he seems like he doesnt have the body to play every day . One has to wonder about his conditioning . If you arent a Reds fan and I am,, and you dont get a chance to watch the plays he gets hurt on ….it is amazing that he gets hurt like he does.. At this point it seems like he is a bust for a first round pick because he cant stay on the field
I think you’re on to something. Look, they drafted Votto as a catcher. Moved him to first and now he broke his thumb.
Teams don’t draft positional need. This isn’t the NFL or the NBA. Guys are years form playing in the MLB when they are drafted, Who knows what teams will need in 2 years?
Lol. He’s played multiple positions well. The ONLY issue here is his physical fragility. Or are you trying to say he would be injured if he just stayed at 3B because he’d be riding the pine behind Suarez?
If the Reds ownership weren’t idiots they would have never thought they were “contenders” and wouldn’t have traded away good prospects for 1 good year of Bauer, and wouldn’t have signed guys like Moustakas. Then they could have played Senzel in the INF all along and lessened the strain on his body. But now they’ve ruined one of our best young players.
It might’ve been best to keep India down for some AAA at bats and played Senzel at 2nd. That frees up your outfield for the 47 MILB signings they made in the winter. No one could have anticipated Naquin but you’ve got a lot of versatility out the bodies you had on the opening day roster and yet they still tried to shoehorn Senzel into CF.
India is what he is at this point. Might as well season him in the majors if there’s room
Castellanos will opt out as long as he continues his tear. No way he wants to deal with incompetence of reds ownership. Reds better recognize that and trade him once they are sellers
you dont know what you are talking about . Castellanos likes playing for the Reds and the players on the team.. You are just jumping to conclusions
Castellanos will opt out because he’ll be able to get more money. Players don’t care about ownership for the most part
Teams trade away prospects every year with the hopes of making a run in the playoffs. Why bash the Reds for doing it. It didnt work .. covid happened and the Reds are a small market team that couldnt handle losing the money they lost last year like other teams. . Senzel has gotten hurt often and on plays that didnt involve the position he was playing at times … You need to look around the league and put that paint brush away you want to use on the Reds and paint the4m as the only team that trades prospects for short term success
What short term success are you referring to? They traded Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray for Alex Wood and Puig. That was supposed to make them a lot better or something? Wood got hurt and didn’t do anything, and Puig didn’t contribute anything that our other OF couldn’t already do. Then they traded Puig and Taylor Trammell for Bauer. Bauer was good, but the Reds still needed an expanded playoff just to make it to the postseason last year, and then they sucked and we’re booted out right away. Then Bauer leaves. So we traded away 3 Top 100 prospects for nothing.
Yes, teams trade prospects for short term success. The difference here is, the Reds didn’t enjoy real success and they were fools for thinking they were good anyway. They never should have been in “buy” mode.
It was a useless trade. They traded away two fringy top-100 prospects (at the time), just so they could try to win 75 games.
Senzel dominated every level of baseball until he hit The Show. Then started playing against players as talented as he and he has not been able to produce. He has a decent amount of at bats this year and seasons worth in all yet numbers come no where near his expected skill set.
He hasn’t produced because he’s been hurt. He’s been hurt on at least 3 occasions because IMO he’s playing out of position. He can play 2nd, SS and 3rd. It makes no sense to keep putting him at risk covering that much ground. You’ve got a nice group now but you have to think Moose is going to get dealt at some point. Maybe a healthy Senzel slides in at 3rd or they move Suarez back to 3rd and play Senzel at SS. Either way there are plenty of OFs and two of them are average to good CFs.
Reds with some bad luck that is stalling their efforts to improve/rebuild.
Question for Reds fans: What is up with Luis Castillo? Some people say a pitcher’s W/L record doesn’t matter, but his numbers across the board are befitting of a 1-7 pitcher. He is giving up a lot of hits. What seems to be the issue? I half-expect to log onto this site and see Castillo has been shut down for some reason.
Same issue as 2018, velocity and movement are down. He really needs to be at 98 to set up the Change Up.
He’s be hitting 98, 99. It’s not a velo issue, I’m guessing it’s a mechanical flaw, but who knows.
When Bauer left town – he took his secret ball sauce with him.
I’m not a Reds fan, but just by going off what he’s been throwing, he’s simpily just not getting swinsg and misses. His whiff rate in 2019 was 35.5% and 32.7% in 2020. This year, it’s just 24.6%. He’s been giving up a lot more hard hit balls. He’s also seen a big change in launch angle.
It looks like he can’t throw his change for a strike so hitters are ignoring that while sitting dead red on his fastball.
Not a Reds’ fan, but I just picked him up on my fantasy team. In 2018, Castillo had a 7.85 ERA in April, and a 3.57 the rest of the season. In 2020, he had a 4.76 thru 3 starts and a 2.72 in his final 9 starts. Similar results in 2017. I’m not sure if the is causation or correlation, but so far, I am willing to gamble on him.
Throwing the ball up in the zone this year (trying to do what the cool kids are doing these days). Needs to get back to his bread and butter. Low fastballs that tunnel well with his low changeup. When his fastball is at the knees his changeup is filthy. Like Pedro. The way he’s throwing now, if it’s high its a fastball, belt and lower and it’s a changeup. Too easy to see it coming.
Just a casual observation.
The report on Senzel when drafted was “high floor, lower ceiling”.
That has perfectly fit his MLB production…
High floor lower ceiling sounds like they put him in a crawl space. No wonder he keeps getting injured.
Real shame. He had talent to play at a high level at multiple positions. Some guys just snakebit.
They need to trade his sorry ass he will never play more then 50 games a season
He’ll never be worth the pick. This man will always be injured.
Keep letting him crash into walls in the outfield and you’re right.
A clone of Mark priors career.
I really wish an actual Reds fan would chime in. I am a Cardinals fan and I can recall 2 different injuries he had that were 10p% because he was playing out of position. And I don’t watch Reds games regularly. I don’t think the people replying do either.
Ask a Reds fan. This isn’t random injuries sorry fellas.
I’m not sure it can be proven either way, but outfield is a pure speed position, while the infield is a lot sudden stopping. It feels intuitively correct that stopping and starting would be harder on the knees.
That said, the Reds are the worst run organization in baseball, though I’d accept arguments from the Rockies’ fans.
If there is an upside to this, maybe this will prompt ownership and the FO to start a mini-rebuild. Gray, Castillo, and Suarez would’ve netted them maybe 5-6 top-100 prospects. Their collective value is probably half that now. They need to trade those guys for value, and start planning for 2023/24.