Cincinnati Reds' Rece Hinds is back, but he's not 'the savior' for team's offensive woes

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Hunter Martin / Getty Images Share full articleCINCINNATI — As Rece Hinds began his pregame routine of yoga and walking barefoot in the outfield grass at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, Cincinnati Reds catcher Jose Trevino saw him and had a simple question: “How does it feel to be back home?” With a smile as big as his 6-foot-3 frame, Hinds told the veteran catcher it was great. “This clubhouse, these guys, it’s awesome seeing these guys and being around these guys,” Hinds said. “There’s such good camaraderie around all of us. I’ve played with a lot of these guys coming up through the system.” The Reds entered Tuesday’s series with the San Francisco Giants tied for the third-fewest runs in Major League Baseball. After Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Angels, the team optioned outfielder Noelvi Marte to Triple-A Louisville and then officially called Hinds up Tuesday. Hinds was in the team’s lineup, hitting sixth behind Eugenio Suárez and playing right field, in hope of both buoying the team’s anemic offense and getting Marte back on track. “We don’t expect him to come here and be the savior,” Reds manager Terry Francona said before Tuesday’s game. “We just want him to play the best baseball he can and go from there.” Hinds played his best baseball this spring, putting up a 1.414 OPS with five home runs in 43 plate appearances during Cactus League games. The Reds sent him to Triple A to start the season, where he didn’t slow down. In 13 games and 61 plate appearances with the Bats, Hinds had a 1.246 OPS and five home runs. “Rece had just a good spring — we told him, and we know he wasn’t pleased, but we said, ‘We want you to play. We don’t want you to sit the bench,'” Francona said. “To his credit, he goes (down) and plays and plays really well.” Hinds knew he belonged in the big leagues. In fairness, it wasn’t that anyone doubted him, but the competition for the team’s final roster spots this spring was as close as it has been in years. While the decision at the end of March was tough for Hinds, a simple adjustment to his attitude the last couple of years helped him thrive even in disappointment. Instead of trying to prove others wrong in their decision, he wanted to prove to himself he was correct in his belief that his work and performance were worthy of a big-league spot. “The past couple of years, I’ve proven to myself that I’m an all-around player and I can do every phase of the game,” Hinds said Tuesday. It was those parts of the game — his defense in the outfield and his base running — that Francona noticed the most this spring. Hinds said he spent a lot of time during the offseason shagging fly balls at Kennesaw State near his home in the Atlanta area while the Owls players were taking batting practice. Francona said the team’s message to him after last season and at the start of the spring was about being more consistent. A message he took to heart. “I think the biggest thing was focusing on the little things — really paying attention to the game, paying attention to situations instead of just going out there and trusting my talent in general,” Hinds said. “I’m out there actually thinking and observing the game and being more conscious of what’s going on in the game.” At the plate, Hinds also made an adjustment with his approach, which has been paying dividends. There will always be swing-and-miss in Hinds’ game. In 95 big-league plate appearances over the previous two seasons, Hinds had a 38.9 percent strikeout rate. In the minors over that same span, it was 31.8 percent in 858 plate appearances. He lowered his strikeout rate to 30.2 percent this spring and 24.6 early in the season with the Bats. The change isn’t as much about whiffing less as swinging less. Hinds is laying off the breaking balls lower in the zone because not only are they more likely to be balls, but also the quality of contact if he does hit them is likely to be poor. As a result, he improved his walk rate from 8.2 percent the last two seasons in the minors to 19.7 percent early this season. “I think just seeing those pitches, seeing myself be able to lay off certain pitches, really stick to a game plan, stick to a zone I’m looking for,” Hinds said. “I think it just grows that confidence in that approach more and more.” For Marte, the results were the opposite. Last year, his strikeout rate was 23.6 percent, and early this year, it was 32.3 percent, a gulf that not even a slight rise in walk rate (from 4.4 to 6.5 percent) could help. “He got to a point where he was trying to hit himself back in, and he was swinging at everything,” Francona said. “That’s a hard way to do it.” Moved from third base to right field in July last year, Marte will play both right field and center field with the Bats. “We want him to do well. We really do. But go do it,” Francona said. “Nobody’s pulling against him, I guarantee you that. We just felt like he got himself in a position where it was going to be hard to kind of dig out.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms C. Trent Rosecrans is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Cincinnati Reds and Major League Baseball. He previously covered the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post and has also covered Major League Baseball for CBSSports.com. Follow C. Trent on Twitter @ctrent