Derrick Robinson Could Help The Reds A lot

Reds’ left fielder Ryan Ludwick dislocated his shoulder on Opening Day, that forced them to put him on the DL and promote Derrick Robinson to the Majors.

Today Derrick Robinson picked up his first Major League hit, it came in the 6th inning against Stephen Strasburg. Robinson would score a couple of batters later after a close play at the plate.

Robinson spent seven years in the Minor Leagues, he worked hard to get to the Major League level.  And while he is just now getting used to being a Major-Leaguer, I’m already thinking he could be a catalyst for the Reds throughout this season.

Robinson has never really posted a jaw-dropping batting average, his best batting average was .286 when he was in AA. However, Robinson has been a pretty solid hitter, last year in AAA he hit .268.  He is a decent hitter.  Obviously not a top-of-the-order hitter yet, but he’s getting there.

D-Rob can steal bases, no doubt about that.  At the AA level he swiped 55 bases, he has blazing speed. Sure, he’s no Billy Hamilton, but he is still an above-average base-stealer.

Robinson won’t start in left-field much, Chris Heisey and Xavier Paul will start more times than not, but when he gets playing time, his speed can really help the Reds.  It would be like having a center fielder in left field, those extra-base hits hit into the gap can become singles, or possibly even outs.

While Derrick Robinson doesn’t do anything that really knocks your socks off, he is solid at everything.  He could be a very important player for the Reds this year.