CINCINNATI — Sometimes managers can send subtle messages in their meeting with reporters.
Dave Roberts was sort of in that mood before Saturday’s game with the Reds.
Asked by the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith about the differences between a young star player coming up on a younger team like the Reds or an older, veteran team like the Dodgers where 100 wins has become commonplace, Roberts gave a very thoughtful, yet telling opinion.
“I think it’s different for all players in the sense of some environments,” Roberts said. “You’re asked to be the guy like Elly, his situation. You’re around a bunch of younger guys. In other cases, you’re around a veteran-laden team and you’re not asked to do as much. So that’s different.
“I think nowadays in baseball, the younger players are given more freedom to sort of be themselves and showcase their ability. And I’ve seen that the best ones still play in the constructs of winning a baseball game. And so when you can get a guy like (Kansas City’s) Bobby Witt, Jr. (and) I love that Gunnar Henderson (Orioles) kid. So guys like that. Buster Posey was a guy like that back in the day, right? But you have these young superstars that come up and still understand the game of baseball and how to play winning baseball, (that) is the gold standard.”
One could read into the first part of that second paragraph that Roberts believes Elly is one of those budding young superstars great for the future of the game but hasn’t learned to win in the constructs of teams where winning – not player development – is the priority.
But a closer look reveals that Roberts is really just observing what’s obvious about De La Cruz’s situation, a young star player on a very young roster. Maybe there’s a little jab there but nothing more than that but one would need to go pretty deep to mine that drama gold.
De La Cruz has committed the type of baserunning miscues that come with learning but in general has been playing at a level above his years in the majors, stealing 31 bases while getting caught five times.
Roberts also had some thoughts about De La Cruz’s assault on MLB base stealing records two months in. Roberts was renown for studying pitchers and of course had the most famous stolen base in Red Sox history in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS.
“With De La Cruz, I think just speed, sheer speed,” Roberts told me. “It’ll be scary if he can start to get better jumps, start to learn pitchers’ tendencies. But he just out-runs the baseball. So I think there’s a desire, a fearlessness. But he just has sheer speed.”
Then there’s the value of studying pitchers and working the craft of base stealing.
“You’ve got to value it,” Roberts continued. “I think that it’ll be scary if some base stealer (or) coach tutors him on the little fine-tune things of base stealing, because with the way he can run it just it’d be very dangerous for opponents.
“Like Maury Wills (did) for me.”
Roberts also spoke at length about his starting pitcher Saturday before Walker Buehler took the mound for the fourth time after returning from Tommy John right elbow surgery. Buehler earned his first win last Sunday in a 4-0 LA win over the Reds, allowing just three hits, striking out seven and walking none in six innings.
Saturday night was a bit different for the right-hander who earned a rep for blowing batters away with 100 mph heat when he came up in 2017.
Roberts cautioned before the game that Buehler is going to have to learn to work within the limits of his body and likely learned to pitch a different way. Sure enough, the Reds got to Buehler for homers in the first (Spencer Steer) and second (Will Benson) in taking a 2-1 lead.
Second straight game Speer homers to first row of seat in left in first inning. 1-0 Reds. pic.twitter.com/YkwcQOooHb
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) May 25, 2024
“I don’t know if Walker will ever be completely bought into listening or taking advice of others,” Roberts said. “But I do think that kind of getting some of the counsel from some of the pitching guys was certainly helpful and beneficial. So we’ll see. But he’s got a good mix. I think that his last one is something to build on.”
Buehler has been a bit stubborn, according to Roberts, in taking advice that might lead to significant changes to his approach on the mound. Taking pitchers out of their comfort zone can be remarkably difficult.
Does Roberts think Buehler could be receptive to change if he’s told it could extend his career?
“I think not really receptive,” Roberts said. “I think that certain guys have a certain way of doing things and especially when they’ve had success doing something a certain way. So to be convinced to do it otherwise can be difficult, understandably.
“But I think at the end of the day, the hitters tell you and when they’re taking good swings and hanging in there against your slider, you’re not they’re not missing on certain pitches, saying that obviously you’re not sequencing well enough where you got to go about it a different way. So I think that Walker is smart enough to know that the hitters are telling you something.”
The Reds entered Saturday night with a chance for consecutive wins for the first time since April 23-24, when they took two straight from the Phillies. They are 7-20 since.
“It’s definitely fine. It’s just this is a results oriented business, not the “Try” League. You have to get it done,” Luke Maile famously said after Thursday’s 6-4, 10-inning loss to the Padres.
“And within that, there’s a lot of process stuff that we’re sticking to, and we will because we’re adults, and we’re big leaguers, and that’s what we’re paid to do. But it’s not to say that it’s easy, and it’s incredibly difficult right now. It isn’t a secret about that. But we got a bunch of guys who are really talented No. 1, and on top of it, man, we care about each other. Like there’s no quit here. It’s not going to happen.”
David Bell felt a sense of relief after Friday’s 9-6 win over the Dodgers, a game that featured a pair of sensational grabs from center fielder Stuart Fairchild, three home runs, including a clutch two-out grand slam from Jonathan India and the resilience of fighting back from a 5-3 deficit against a first-place team.
“Definitely the results felt good,” Bell said. “You go out every day believing in yourself, find a way to be confident, even when the results aren’t there. You have to do that. And we have reason to believe that we can take the field that way even though the results haven’t been good, but it’s nice to get results and makes makes that confidence easier.”
The Reds entered this weekend series losers of 20 of 26 and firmly in the basement of the NL Central. Any momentum from here on out could prove valuable as they bide their time until they get the likes of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, TJ Friedl and Noelvi Marte back in the next 4-5 weeks.
“There’s momentum and things like that,” Bell continued. “So (Friday) night was important. I mean, there’s no question but just like when things haven’t gone well, you turn the page immediately and then go back out (the next day). But again, yeah I think success, especially with the hard work and things that are going into really shifting this (after) the way the last couple of weeks have gone, that takes a lot so getting the results. That’s for sure.”
In other words, Bell realizes it’s one thing to preach preparing to win every day. But eventually his team needs to see success.
