CINCINNATI -- Wil Crowe’s three home runs allowed were just too much for the Pirates to overcome Thursday, dropping the opener to the Reds at Great American Ball Park, 7-4.
The Reds would have had four homers on the night had it not been for Bryan Reynolds in center field, though.
With a runner on base and Duane Underwood Jr. on the mound in the fifth, Tyler Naquin crushed a fly ball to deep right-center that looked like it would leave the park. Reynolds got to the wall quickly enough to time it up and was able to bring it back:
“It feels good to be on the defensive side of it [a home run robbery],” Reynolds said after the game. “I had it offensively one time and that's not fun.”
Catches like this are starting to become a near daily occurrence for Reynolds. On Monday, he pulled off this diving cut in the left-center gap:
Give that man the Gold Glove right now. pic.twitter.com/gLUF2KugoU
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 3, 2021
The week prior, he made a couple more grabs that his pitchers and teammates loved.
“When he put on the burners, I was like, you know, he’s got a chance to get there,” Crowe said about a diving catch on July 30.
“It's almost to a point I expect him to make that play,” JT Brubaker said on a grab to rob a bloop single on July 31.
And the reaction Thursday? “I had goosebumps,” left fielder Hoy Park said.
Reynolds bat is what usually steals the show, but he has provided quality defense in each of his first three seasons in the majors. Last year he barely missed out on a Gold Glove nomination in left field because he played in center too often, limiting his sample size.
Going into the year, it looked like Reynolds was going to get a chance to compete for that Gold Glove in left, but after Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler were both designated for assignment in April, Reynolds slid over to center. He hasn’t given the Pirates a reason to slide him back.
Back in spring training, first base and outfield coach Tarrik Brock said that in his mind, Reynolds was a Gold Glove caliber left fielder. What about center field?
“I believe that if he’s in left, center or right, he has a chance to compete for one,” Brock told me on the field at Great American Ball Park before Thursday’s game. “He’s competing every night. He’s leading a young outfield every night, and he’s playing very, very well.”
While there is a good case to be made for Reynolds’ candidacy, it might not pick up steam this year. His defensive metrics are some of the most perplexing in recent baseball memory? Going by Defensive Runs Saved, as by Fielding Bible, he’s cost his team four runs this year. The SABR Defensive Index (which is weighed in Gold Glove nominations and the winner) has him as just a little above average at 0.7 SDI, eighth among National League center fielders.
Meanwhile, Baseball Savant’s Outs Above Average has him among the best defenders in the game. His 8 OAA is tied for the second-most among outfielders.
Depending on which stats you want to go by, Reynolds has either improved greatly, slightly or is an out of position left fielder. The last seems the least accurate way to describe him, at least since he has come into his own defensively.
“His jumps,” Derek Shelton responded when asked what has improved with Reynolds’ defense. “It’s something he and Tarrik started working on even during spring training when he was playing left field. That’s the thing that’s really stood out to me. Since he’s moved to center, the ability to get good jumps, good reads.”
Finding a way to improve those jumps was a mixture of analytics and Brock’s coaching. When it became clear that Reynolds was going to get an extended look in center, Brock was given information from the team’s analysts on how Reynolds moves as a fielder. Brock went to Reynolds with it, challenging him with ways he could improve -- like specific drills to help with his first step quickness -- but also emphasizing what Reynolds already did very well: Finishing plays.
“One thing that I noticed from watching him from last year and early parts of this year is he closes on the ball well,” Brock said. “The catches he made in Milwaukee, it was the backend. So if we can get him on the right route, it’ll give him a chance to close in on the ball. He’s done a great job of doing that.”
Reynolds has been getting better at those routes as the season has progressed, and has led to some of those web gems.
“Trying to be in the right spot and reading the ball off the bat,” Reynolds said on what he’s trying to do in center differently. “Just comes with reps, more than anything."
There are more reps to come. It’s hard to imagine anyone in Class AAA would be able to boot Reynolds from center. For someone who came into the year as part of the projected outfield of the future, playing good defense in center can help speed up the rebuilding process.
"To me, he’s the gold glover,” Brock said. “Yes, I’m biased, but I’m watching him and watching other guys out there every night as well.”
GETTY
Joey Votto is congratulated after hitting a three-run home run in the second inning Thursday.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Crowe had problems early, allowing all three home runs in the first two frames, including a pair of three-run shots to Eugenio Suárez and Joey Votto in the second.
Even though he was at 70 pitches through two innings, Oscar Marin and Jacob Stallings were able to calm him down in the dugout so he could go two more frames.
"[He] got a little bit frustrated and missed with some fastballs in the middle of the plate," Shelton said. "You cannot do that with that lineup in this ballpark. He was able to settle down. Even though it's a four-inning outing, the fact that he gave us the third and fourth scoreless was very important."
Talking after the game, Crowe didn't think the Votto pitch was a mistake. His charts had fastball away as a show pitch. The out pitch was the fastball up and in. While Crowe put it where he wanted, Votto was able to turn on it and put it in the front row in the right field power alley.
"If you watch it back, I think you’ll see where Stallings is even visibly upset that he got that homer, because that was -- in my mind -- probably the best pitch I threw all night," Crowe said. "Sometimes, some guys get you on really good pitches, and that was one of the zones where I was supposed to attack and get him out at. And he called it, I felt comfortable with it, I threw it and when he hit it, I didn’t think it was gone. It might not be gone at PNC. It might not be gone a lot of places, but it gets out here."
• After what looked like a productive, long talk on the field with Shelton before the game, Ke'Bryan Hayes snapped an 0-for-19 skid with a line drive up the middle for a base hit in the fifth. That was the final tally in a four run fourth inning for the Pirates, the only frame in which they generated any offense, and that was mostly due to three straight infield singles, two of which brought home a run.
• Ben Gamel was originally slated to start out in left field, but was scratched with some hamstring tightness. Park, who was originally penciled in to play second, played left instead, and Wilmer Difo got the nod at second.
Park went 2-for-4 with a walk, batting leadoff. He has recorded a hit in every game he has played with the Pirates.
Wednesday night, the Pirates activated left-hander Anthony Banda, who they claimed off waivers earlier this week. Shea Spitzbarth was optioned to Indianapolis to make room for him. Banda tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning Thursday.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Hoy Park, LF
2. Kevin Newman, SS
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
5. John Nogowski, 1B
6. Gregory Polanco, RF
7. Jacob Stallings, C
8. Wilmer Difo, 2B
9. Wil Crowe, RHP
And for David Bell's Reds:
1. Jonathan India, 2B
2. Jesse Winker, LF
3. Nick Castellanos, RF
4. Joey Votto, 1B
5. Tyler Stephenson, C
6. Kyle Farmer, SS
7. Tyler Naquin, CF
8. Eugenio Suárez, 3B
9. Sonny Gray, RHP
THE SCHEDULE
JT Brubaker (4-10, 4.49) will try to build off that strong start his last time out. The Reds will counter with Wade Miley (8-4, 2.92). First pitch will come your way at 7:10 p.m. I've got you covered from Great American Ball Park.
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