Reds Must Decide Between Robinson, Paul, and Lutz

On April 29, the Cincinnati Reds placed outfielder Chris Heisey on the 15-day disabled list after he strained his right hamstring. To fill his spot on the roster, the Reds brought up OF Donald Lutz from AA Pensacola.

Now, Heisey is close to being 100%, and will see action very soon; that means the Reds will have a tough decision to make, they’ll have to send either Derrick Robinson, Xavier Paul, or Donald Lutz down to AAA Louisville.

Derrick Robinson has been with the Reds since the second game of the season, he was brought up from AAA after Ryan Ludwick was injured on Opening Day. Robinson does not do anything too flashy, but he is a very solid player. He is hitting .333, that means he gets a hit in a third of his at-bats. Robinson does not have a home run, has five home runs, and one steal. He is just a good singles hitter, and good at getting on base, he has an on-base percentage (OBP) of .440, that’s pretty impressive.  His speed is also nice to have, he can beat out a lot of throws, so infield hits are not rare for him. Robinson is without a doubt the fastest player the Reds have.

Xavier Paul has played in 41 games this season, and has a .277 batting average. .277 is pretty impressive, not as impressive as Derrick Robinson’s though. However, Paul does have three home runs, a grand slam, and 17 RBI. The best thing about Xavier Paul is hit ability to hit fastballs. Paul is probably the best fastball hitter on the team, he is hitting .335 against fastballs. The bad thing is, he isn’t that good at hitting off-speed pitches, his best average against an off-speed pitch is against the slider, where he is hitting .155. But at the end of the day, you can look at Xavier’s stats and be pretty impressed, he is a very good player.

Donald Lutz has been in the big leagues since Heisey went down, as the first paragraph stated. Lutz is hitting .244, has one home run, and has knocked in six, he has also swiped two bases. Lutz’s batting average isn’t that great, but you have to remember he’s only played in 20 games, so he has a small sample size, it’s hard to tell how good he really is. Lutz does possess some power, he just has not had much of a chance to show it to everyone. He is also only 24-years-old, and has never played in AAA.

I would send down Donald Lutz, his stats have not been as good as Robinson’s or Paul’s, and he needs some time in AAA where he can get regular playing time and develop more as a player. He’ll probably be back at some point in the season, hopefully not until September though, as that is when the call-ups occur.

It will be a tough decision for the Reds, on who to send down, I’m just glad I don’t have to make that decision.