Cincinnati Reds top prospect Nick Senzel is still on the injured list after injuring his ankle in spring training. Near the end of big league camp he was sent back to the minors. A few days later he slid into second base in a minor league game, caught his cleat in the dirt and injured his ankle. It’s been about two-and-a-half weeks since the injury. Mark Sheldon of Reds.com notes that today, via Dick Williams, that Senzel is expected to get live at-bats today out in Goodyear.
For the two weeks after the injury, Nick Senzel was in a walking boot in an effort to heal. Early reports had the ankle doing better than initially expected for the outfielder. He’s been throwing, running, and taking swings off of the batting tee in the last few days. There’s going to still be some time between what happens today and when Senzel will join the Louisville Bats. He’s currently on the Louisville roster, but on the injured list. However, it’s still likely to be a few weeks until he’s going to be in games.
David Bell said Nick Senzel’s progression has been encouraging, but he’s still a couple weeks away from playing games at any level.
— Fletcher Page (@FletcherPage) April 11, 2019
The Reds reasoning for sending Nick Senzel to the minors was to work on his defense. He’s transitioning from the infield to the outfield this season. From 2016-2017 he spent time playing third base in the farm system. But then Eugenio Suarez broke out. And then signed a long-term extension. That meant that Senzel was in need of a new position on the field. So he was moved over to second base when he arrived in Triple-A, but then Scooter Gennett continued to rake, and despite rumors that the Reds were looking to move him in a trade, there were no takers. That left Senzel without a spot on the Reds once again. After the year they decided to give him a shot in the outfield.
After recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow, Nick Senzel spent the offseason in Goodyear working on learning to play the outfield. He came to spring training ready to go and by-and-large he was impressive while playing center. Still, he was sent to the minors to “get more experience in center”. What is almost a certainty is that he was sent to the minors to gain an extra year of team control given that this is the same team that started Jesse Winker in center field the other day, who has less game experience in center than Senzel and is substantially slower, too.
Once he gets back to Louisville, expect him to spend at least a couple of weeks with the Bats. The Reds are going to want to get him some at-bats. And they are going to want him to get back in center and make sure he’s up to speed – both figuratively and literally – coming off of the ankle injury.