Moneyball: The Sequel on tap for Nick Krall’s Cincinnati Reds in 2024

Cleveland Guardians general manager Chris Antonetti saw baseball’s new action-driving rules on the horizon a year or two ahead before MLB’s rollout last year, just like everybody else.

But when you glance at the Guardians’ roster last year and then note a jump in stolen bases of more than 25 percent, it’s tempting to think the Guardians did it again – one of the legacy smart-guy front offices featured in Moneyball loading up on undervalued talent to gain a competitive edge before the rest of the industry catches on.

A whole bunch of little fast guys who can run wild on the bases and get to anything hit their way in the field.

Next-gen Moneyball.

“We were conscious of it and tried to be deliberate about how we take advantage of the rules as best we we can,” Antonetti said during a gathering this spring of Cactus League managers and GMs. “But a lot of those players came through our system and were already in place. It just happened to coincide with the rules changes.

“But his timing might fit,” Antonetti said, pointing across the room. “That was a little bit different.”

Aha. That explains it.

Antonetti pointed at Nick Krall, president of the Cincinnati Reds, the understated, savvy baseball man who cut his front office teeth in Billy Beane’s Oakland Athletics baseball department at the center of the Moneyball story two decades ago.

“Yes,” Krall confirms. “Pouring coffee.”

Pouring coffee. Revolutionizing the game.

To-mayto, to-mahto.

Point is, Krall oversaw a complete teardown of the Reds roster and most recent team-building philosophy just ahead of rules changes that limited defensive shifts, limited pickoff throws, put a timer on pitches and, consequently, put a premium on infield range and incentivized putting the ball in play and running like hell.

By the time the likes of Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer, Will Benson and Jake Fraley were all in big-league Reds uniforms together last summer, the Reds were the hottest, fastest, most exciting, most electrifying team in baseball.

Next-gen Moneyball at warp speed.

Premier athleticism at nearly every position precisely at the moment speed and fielding range was making a premier impact in the game again.

“It was first and foremost,” Krall said of that pursuit during the 18-month teardown. “We needed to get more athletic across the board. We didn’t have guys that had range. Defense, base running — we were not very good in the league.

“You look at our base running from the beginning of last year to the end of last year, and you look at our defense from where it was at the beginning of last year, and it’s slowly but surely changing,” Krall said. “We’ve gotten better in those areas.”

They’ve taken three major hits to their new-age fast-and-furious group of athletes, with center fielder TJ Friedl’s broken wrist, McLain’s serious shoulder injury and the steroid suspension of Marte.

But the fastest team in the league in 2023 – a team that led the majors in stolen bases just a year after finishing in the bottom six and getting thrown out 36-percent of the time – still has the fastest player in the game in De La Cruz and plenty more on the roster behind him for Thursday’s season opener against Washington.

“I still feel good about our team speed,” manager David Bell said. “We talked about everyone on our roster being able to run, even guys you don’t expect to run well.”

Fraley, Steer. Definitely Stuart Fairchild and Benson. Jonathan India.

“Some of these guys may not all be at Elly’s level, but we have good overall team speed,” Bell said. “We’ll still be aggressive, and I still believe it’ll be a strength of our team.”

And Friedl could be back by sometime near the start of May. Marte will be eligible for the second half.

And division rivals have taken notice. Milwaukee Brewers first-year manager Pat Murphy, who was on the Brewers coaching staff in recent years, called the Reds lineup “super dangerous” and rattled off nearly every position guy on the roster as a guy who can run.

“They’ve got a great young team,” Murphy said. “They’re fun.”

And it’s all by design.

With Brad Meador, since promoted to GM, running the draft, the Reds took McLain in the first round in 2021.

A few months later they traded Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to Seattle in a deal that included Fraley.

Three months later they brought Fairchild back to the team on a waiver claim, and the following month landed Marte and dynamic shortstop prospect Edwin Arroyo from Seattle in the Luis Castillo trade.

Three days later came Steer (and Christian Encarnacion-Strand) from the Twins for Tyler Mahle.

And Benson joined the group a year ago last month in a trade from Cleveland.

And just like that, the Reds were very, very, very fast across every position in front of the plate.

If it seems like a lot of shortstops – De La Cruz, McLain, Arroyo, Marte – that’s because it is. By design.

“If you can play defense at short, you can play defense anywhere,” Krall said. “You’ve got guys that are more electric and can do better things.”

That competitive edge through athleticism and aggressiveness might even be enhanced this year with an enforcement emphasis on obstruction by defenders on plays on the bases.

“We’ve made some youthful mistakes but we have a ton more range in the middle of the diamond than we had before,” Krall said. “And it’s pushed some of the middle guys to the corners, and then it’s helped prop those up as well.”

Two decades ago, it was Scott Hatteberg and a bunch of other guys who could see a lot of pitches and get on base without necessarily hitting for a high batting average.

Now it’s a bunch of dudes who can catch the ball and run like hell.

Just like the architect from the Billy Beane executive tree drew it up, right?

“We emphasized athleticism before the rules changes because we needed to be a more athletic team,” Krall said.

Moneyball 2.0, right?

“It’s a sport you play with athletes, and we needed better athletes across the board,” Krall said. “It wasn’t a, ‘Hey, I see this change, I see this coming so we’re going to make sure we do this.’ “

Whatever.

To-mayto, to-mahto.

“Obviously, (the rules) have helped,” Krall said. “Obviously, we knew about them.”

Exactly.

Now we just need to let the season play out.

And then figure out who’s going to play Krall in the movie.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Cincinnati Reds are planning a Moneyball sequel in 2024