Why Cincinnati Reds' Lodolo returned in Nick of time for what awaits Reds | Press Box Wag
Anyone who doesn’t appreciate the impact of Nick Lodolo’s successful return to the Cincinnati Reds’ pitching staff – or the value of the timing – probably hasn’t noticed just how good Lodolo has been.
And definitely hasn’t looked at the Reds’ upcoming schedule.
Lodolo, who missed nearly a year because of a leg injury, is already 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA after allowing just one run and a walk in a pair of impressive starts against the White Sox and Angels – with 16 strikeouts.
His return might have been the most under-the-radar nationally of a series of important season debuts for starters that included Sonny Gray with the Cardinals, Blake Snell with the Giants, Jordan Montgomery with the Diamondbacks and Justin Verlander with the Astros.
Reds starting rotation Nick Lodolo Nick Lodolo translates adrenaline into strikes to beat the Angels
Reds Angels Tyler Stephenson Tyler Stephenson breaks through with a big homer as the Reds beat the Angels
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But none was arguably more important to his team.
That boost to the Reds rotation arrives just in time for what might be the toughest six-week span of the season — a 38-game stretch that opens Monday with four at home against the powerful Philadelphia Phillies and includes all nine games this year against last year’s World Series teams (Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks) and all seven games this year against the 2024 National League favorites, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Also in that six-week gauntlet are three against the AL pennant-favorite Baltimore, three on the road against playoff-minded Giants, all six this year against Manny Machado’s Padres, and the first looks at would-be NL Central contenders St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs.
Nothing figures to tell the story of how they navigate that stretch better than the story their starting pitching weaves.
Talk about the Nick of time.
With that in mind, check out the latest:
NL Central Starters Power Rankings*
1. Sonny Gray, Cardinals — The former Red hasn’t allowed a run or a walk in 11 innings over his two starts since returning from a spring hamstring injury. Start No. 3 is Sunday against the Brewers.
2. Nick Lodolo, Reds — The lefty gets a next big test against lefty sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber and the rest of the Phillies who come to town Monday.
3. Freddy Peralta, Brewers — The righty who has a case for most talented pitcher in the division has a 2.55 ERA and a league-leading 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings in his three starts so far, averaging six innings per.
4. Shota Imanaga, Cubs — The 30-year-old rookie from Japan hasn’t given up an earned run in his first three big-league starts — the first Cubs pitcher to accomplish that in 115 years. One of those starts was shortened to four innings by rain. But the lefty has 16 strikeouts and just two walks in his first 15 1/3 major-league innings.
5 (tie). Martin Perez, Pirates, and Andrew Abbott, Reds — Perez, 33, leads the division’s pitchers in innings (fifth in the NL) and has a 2.55 ERA, one of the biggest reasons the Pirates are off to another good start this year. Abbott’s contributions so far might qualify as unsung for the Reds, considering he leads the staff in innings pitched, WAR and has a 2.70 ERA through four starts. Like Lodolo, he’ll be one of the biggest keys to the next six weeks for the Reds if he keeps that up.
*-active players; week ending Friday.
Men of Steal
Through Friday, the Reds led the majors with 37 stolen bases — on a pace for 315 this season.
They led the majors last year with 190.
No big-league team has stolen 300 bases in a season since the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals (314) with Vince Coleman, Willie McGee and Tommy Herr.
Before that, the last team to do it was the 1976 Oakland Athletics (341) with Bill North, Bert Campaneris and Don Baylor (career-high 52 steals, before he started slugging more and got slow).
Before that? You have to go all the way back to the Dead Ball Era, Fred Snodgrass, Fred Merkle and the 1912 New York Giants (319).
The Reds franchise record is 310 in 1910, when Bob Bescher and Dode Paskert ran wild.
So when Reds manager David Bell dismisses the occasional “mistake” on the bases and vows to keep the lights green and the dust flying, maybe it’s not so hard to understand why. “Base running is a big part of our game.”
You think?
West Sigh Story
It took the Reds all of one series in Seattle to lose more games this year against the American League West than they did all of last season.
That would be three. They went 13-2 against the AL West last year, winning all five series, including road sweeps at Houston and Anaheim and a home sweep of the eventual World Series-champion Texas Rangers.
The three-game sweep in Seattle in which the Reds scored only five runs and struck out 31 times probably says more about the Mariners and the quality of their pitching staff than it does about the strength or depth of the Reds.
Well, maybe a little bit about the depth of the Reds, too.
At least they still have the Angels.
Their series-opening victory Friday was the Reds’ sixth consecutive win over the Angels, dating to their two-game home sweep in August 2019.
He Said It
“If I think I can hit a home run, I swing. It works sometimes. Sometimes not so much.”
*Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
Fast Friends
On a recent day at GABP, Elly De La Cruz and Bubba Thompson crossed paths from their opposite ends of the clubhouse when a wise guy took the opportunity to ask: “Which of you guys is faster?”
De La Cruz’s quick response: “He’s faster.”
Thompson: “Nah.”
Maybe they can settle this on the field before batting practice? Team interpreter Jorge Merlos can be in charge of spectator bets? (Hey, it's a joke).
Maybe. Except that Thompson refuses. He’s been down that road on other teams with people wanting to test him against his pals.
“He’s my teammate,” Thompson said.
OK, then how about this: These two guys against any two on any other team?
De La Cruz as a rookie last year was clocked faster in sprint speed running the bases than anyone in the majors (30.5 feet per second). He’s third this year among qualifiers at 29.8.
Thompson doesn’t have enough playing time to qualify, but in his small sample size, he was clocked at 30.3 last year and 30.2 this year.
Talk about a dynamic duo.
Wait. So which one is Batman?
The Big Number: 80-50
OK, those are two really big numbers. And they both belong to De La Cruz.
When he stole three bases Friday to retake the MLB lead with 10 and hit his sixth home run, it put him on pace for 85 steals and 51 home runs this season.
Eat your heart out, Ronald Acuna Jr.
The big numbers would, of course, make the 22-year-old De La Cruz baseball’s first 80-50 man, eclipsing Acuna’s so-last-year 70-40.
For now all it means is that math can be fun when you play the he’s-on-pace game in April.
It also probably means we’ve settled that question about which one is Batman.
City Disconnect
With all the media attention the New York Mets’ new City Connect uniforms got over the last few days (because, apparently, New York?), ESPN graded all the City Connect uniforms rolled out to date.
The Reds got a big, fat, boring, average C.
And with sincerest respect for Press Box Wag pal and former teammate David Schoenfield that seems a bit low on his otherwise mostly lame-ass list.
If he's grading on a curve, it's a hanger.
The Reds deserve at least a B for the black-and-red combo with a lettering vibe that insinuates their electric style. And the White Sox for that matter might have the best of the bunch, with their bad-ass, all-black “Southside” motif – so what’s with the B+?
Washington’s unimaginative scoreboard abbreviation of a logo on stupid-looking gray gets a B? The weirdo Padres throw a few new colors together and sell it as representing Baja California – and get an A? And that yellow crap in Boston? A friggin’ B?
Come on, Dave, our Media League unis back in the day were better than some of these.
With all due respect.
Hey, how about we agree on this: Just scrap the whole crass, alternate-uniform, money-grubbing, tired, merch-cash-grab scheme that this whole thing was about in the first place.
Did You Know?
The Reds might want to line up their 2025 rotation right now to make sure Lodolo is pitching again on April 13.
That’s his mom Dana’s birthday, and Nick apparently likes to think especially big for her on that day.
That’s the date he debuted in the big leagues in 2022. It’s also the day he debuted this year and stifled the White Sox for his first win since – you guessed it – since April 13 last year at Philadelphia.
Okay, let's see how much you know about the Reds
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Check out where Nick Lodolo already landed in NL Central power ranking
