Hey guys you know the reds season is over now it’s there stat time, let’s begin with Gavin Lux good player overall he was traded from the dodgers to the reds and he has preformed well with the reds and has a .269 batting average on the team but not to be a critic but I’m pretty sure that a .269 BA is not that well but we need to preform better this year as a reds fan

20 comments
  1. Let’s see OPS. Still an imperfect stat, but more indicative of overall plate production without getting to far down the acronym alphabet soup of the analytics era. 

    .270 isn’t a bad average, but only translating into a .720 OPS isn’t ideal, particularly if you’re primarily used in the field as a corner outfielder. He had a negative WAR. He was an ok signing, but the proof was in the pudding: he’s a role player on a contender with those numbers, not option A on any given day. 

  2. Guess how many qualified batters hit over .300 this season.

    As a team, the Reds were just above league average in batting average at .245.

    ETA: Lux was top 50 in the league at 42, but that just means our spread from best to worst was tighter than it could have been.

  3. Look at OPS instead. Not that I expect it’ll be any more impressive, just more meaningful stats imo

  4. Batting average is not that important. This would probably look much worse if you complied our best five OPS stats. You can have a guy hit .220 with a killer OPS, which a better metric of value.

    Don’t get me wrong. I agree. This team hit for shit. The graphic doesn’t really show much.

  5. Steer, McClain and Elly all being sophomores, I’m interested to see how they improve in year 3. McClain maybe most importantly.

    Pitchers adjusted in year two, so this will be the litmus test to see if they can adapt and overcome.

  6. De La Cruz should not be leading the team with 22 home runs. They play in a small ball park. Where are the power hitters? Stewart should do well, but we need more power in that line up.

  7. The Reds were above league average in BA. Why were they still a .500 team that was hard to watch many days? Because batting average is just not as important in today’s game. wRC+, a normalized value encompassing everything offensive a batter is responsible for where 100 is average, for this same group of hitters has

    1. TJ Friedl 107 — his high OBP (17th in the majors!) helped him out here a ton

    2. Elly De La Cruz 107– took a step back this year for sure, but drew walks decently and, despite the popular perception, *generally* did ok with RISP

    3. Gavin Lux 100 — a very average bat any way you cut it. Elite chase % but that’s largely it.

    4. Spencer Steer 96 — took a step back this year; started to look like himself in September but all the playing time he got while injured did him no favors.

    5. Matt McLain 76 — took a step back this year. He was elite in 2023 at power hitting in the sweet spot. This year, bottom 4th percentile bat (82nd last year!). I think Tito’s hitting philosophy of soft contact über alles really hurt McLain — he’s a tiny guy, power hitting is what makes him special. I don’t think he’s capable of being the Nico Hoerner hard strike out type they’re trying to turn him into.

  8. The main stat that matters for the Reds, in my view, is that we spent $22.5mil paying Candelario to go away and paid Nick Martinez 20x what most of the starting lineup made to clutch bad in Game 2 of the playoffs. Over 1/3 of payroll on 2 players, one of whom did nothing. Need way better ROI next round.

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