Thursday, July 25, 2002
Reds' bench becoming strength
Larson's 3-run homer, catch latest contributions
By Neil Schmidt nschmidt@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For all that's made of the Reds' improvement in pitching from last season to this, here are some other 2001 snapshots to remember:
Jason LaRue playing third base. Juan Castro playing first. Bill Selby, Robin Jennings and Donnie Sadler playing, period.
“You try to forget last year's (fill-in) lineups,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. “We had a mish-mash; whoever could walk went out there.”
A key reason the Reds are contending is the upgrade in their bench. It's one reason the team can weather first baseman Sean Casey's trip to the disabled list without a significant drop in offense.
“There's a sense that if one guy's out, you put a guy in and you're not going to miss that bat because this guy's got a chance to pop the ball out, too,” Brandon Larson said.
Larson said that before Wednesday's game, then showed what he meant by going 2-for-4 with a three-
run homer and a diving catch in left field.
Larson, Russell Branyan and Reggie Taylor will share time while Casey's out — Adam Dunn moves to first base — with Brady Clark also getting more pinch-hit opportunities and spot starts like he got Wednesday.
Not to diminish the value of Casey, a career .300 hitter who is strong defensively, but the four who will fill in have totaled better numbers this season:
In 329 at-bats, Casey is hitting .264 with five home runs and 37 RBI. In just 281 combined at-bats, Branyan (.289), Taylor (.262), Larson (.400) and Clark (.208) have a collective .270 average with 11 homers and 49 RBI.
In addition to Larson's big day Wednesday, Clark had a hit, two walks and two runs scored. Taylor ripped a pinch-hit RBI double.
“That's one of the reasons when you make all the deals that (general manager) Jim (Bowden) makes to be upgrading, so that you can cover an injury like Casey's,” Boone said. “With the addition of Branyan, Larson and Taylor, and then with (Austin) Kearns growing up this year, we've been able to overcome losing (Ken) Griffey (Jr.) for some time, too.”
When developing young players, there's a fine line in deciding whether to play them regularly — perhaps in the minors — or let them cut their teeth on the big-league club with occasional starts. Of these four, only Branyan has spent a full season in the bigs, last year in Cleveland.
Said Taylor: “All three of us (he, Branyan and Larson) might be everyday players. But just coming into the league, you've just got to understand and wait for them to call on you.”
Larson struggled in that role last year, hitting .121 in two stints with the Reds. This year, the team let him play every day in Triple-A Louisville, where he hit .340 with 24 homers and 68 RBI, before bringing him up. He is 8-for-20 in nine games with Cincinnati.
“It's totally different for me than last year,” Larson said. “It's a confidence thing more than anything.”
Taylor, who had played in just 14 major-league games prior to 2002, has five homers and 23 RBI. Branyan, who was hitting .205 this year in Cleveland, is batting 88 points higher with the Reds. Clark has raised his average 46 points in the past week.
“We've got some real versatility on the bench,” Clark said. “All us guys come ready to play every day.”
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Reds' bench becoming strength
