This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CINCINNATI — As the Reds prepare for 2023 Spring Training, they have a few spots that appear up for grabs: Left field, center field, third base, the bullpen and the back two spots of the starting rotation all come to mind.
None of those battles have piqued my interest more than what might develop at the open spot at shortstop.
Let’s take a look at the candidates:
Jose Barrero: When the Reds shifted Kyle Farmer to third base in August, they did so to give Barrero an extended audition at shortstop. That audition, at least offensively, went quite poorly.
Barrero, who was already struggling to hit at Triple-A Louisville, slashed just .152/.195/.206 with two home runs in 48 big league games last season. He struck out 76 times in 174 plate appearances for a rate of 43.7 percent.
Because of Barrero’s excellent defensive skills, the Reds let him skip Double-A and Triple-A when the Minor League season was canceled due to the pandemic during 2020, and they had him go directly to the Majors to continue to develop. It didn’t work out well, as Barrero has struggled at the plate while batting .170 over 93 games from 2020-22.
Barrero played winter ball in Puerto Rico this offseason. Before he departed in December, hitting coach Joel McKeithan visited him in Florida and the pair spent two days working on mechanical adjustments with Barrero’s approach. McKeithan had Barrero eliminate a big leg kick before swinging, and he helped him incorporate a toe tap. The hope was to improve his balance, bat path and pitch selection.
In 21 games with Mayaguez, Barrero batted .247 with one homer and cut down on his strikeouts (16 in 86 plate appearances). So perhaps, there’s been progress. But there’s a big difference between winter ball and the big leagues.
Barrero, who will turn 25 in April, has a Minor League option left and will have to show he can hit to earn the starting job.
A veteran of five big league seasons — all with Pittsburgh — Newman slashed .274/.316/.372 with two home runs and 24 RBIs in 78 games during 2022.
Over 130 games in 2019, Newman batted .308 with a .799 OPS, 12 homers and 64 RBIs. Since then, however, he has a .605 OPS in 270 games. Thus far in his career, according to Baseball-Reference, Newman has a 4.3 offensive WAR and 0.9 defensive WAR (Barrero’s are -2.1 and 0.3.).
With the ban…
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