Cincinnati Needs to Visit the Zack Cozart Cabana
By Wally Fish
The Cincinnati Reds are basically a 0.500 baseball team. Actually, to be fair and completely accurate, they lost today and are now one game above 0.500 (41-40). Despite the underwhelming record, last year’s NL Central champions are only 3.5 games back of the division leading Milwaukee Brewers.
The Reds, like every other team in MLB history, have had their share of ups and downs this year. One spot however has been consistently down in 2011 and it’s far from a well-kept secret. Heading into Tuesday’s loss to the Rays, Cincinnati shortstops were hitting a paltry 0.228/.276/.264 with the same number of Runs and RBI (27) in 80 games and 341 PA. If you’re wondering, that’s not a typo in the slash stats. Reds SS have really slugged just 0.264 this season. That’s a measly 12 points better than 0.252 BA the league has collectively hit.
Most of this fine work has been turned in by 28-year old Paul Janish (0.236/.260/.276 in 211 PA) but the rapidly aging, 34-year old Edgar Renteria has done plenty to help the cause (0.214/.302/.241 in 130 PA). Renteria did go 1-3 today with a run scored and an RBI but his hit was, of course, just a single.
On the other side of the coin Janish has, as expected, been very good defensively (11.2 UZR/150), but it hasn’t been enough to offset the lack of ability at the plate. The end result is a -0.3 WAR.
Renteria has been below average defensively (-5.1 UZR/150) this season. For a SS with a 0.1 UZR/150 after 17,650 innings in the field, and given the fluctuations in UZR from year to year, this also falls in line with expectations and is hardly a surprise. In terms of WAR, Renteria has been agent zero. He’s not worth a fraction of a win above replacement level, but he’s not in the negative either.
If you ask me which guy the Reds should be playing at short, the answer is quite simply … neither.
That distinction falls to 25-year old Zack Cozart. The only problem for the Reds and their fans is that his name continues to show up in the Louisville Bats lineup. He’s stuck there despite the fact that he’s hit 0.320/.363/.488 in 314 Triple-A plate appearances this season.
While Cozart’s numbers would surely fall off facing major league pitching, it’s hard to imagine he could possibly bring less to the plate than the duo of Janish and Renteria have thus far this season. Yes, it’s the International League but I’m guessing Cozart’s 34 XBH – including 7 HR – would translate to the majors better than the 10 XBH that “Janterina” has put together. The Reds are still looking for their 1st HR from a SS this season while even the Royals slap-hitting, defensive wizard, Alcides Escobar, has managed to go deep this year.
That’s just sad.
If you’re thinking defense is the reason that Zack continues to be stuck in AAA purgatory, you’d be wrong. Baseball America, who ranked Cozart as the team’s 8th best prospect heading into the season, wrote:
"Cozart has more offensive upside and similar defensive ability, though Janish has a better arm."
In addition to having “similar defensive ability,” Zack is three years younger. In terms of cost, Janish is essentially making the major league minimum so that would be a wash. In terms of the roster, Cozart is already on the team’s 40-man and Janish has options remaining so a “crunch” in this area shouldn’t be an issue either. If the Cincinnati were to send down PJ and call up Cozy, they would – at worst – be swapping out Janish for a younger version with two very notable exceptions … Zack Cozart can hit his way out of a wet paper sack and he did an interview with Blog Red Machine 9 days ago (which obviously earns him bonus points).
Clipped from: blogredmachine.com (share this clip)
I recognize that if there were a Reds related topic in recent weeks that has become a well-beaten dead horse, this is probably the one. That’s what happens when an organization refuses to upgrade their roster with an immediately available in-house option. I know some fans love the defensive stylings of Paul but I don’t see any possible downside to replacing Janish with Cozart, and for a team like the Reds who are a legitimate contender, it seems irresponsible that they haven’t already made this move.