IL notes: Tough season for Reds' Senzel

Even before he suffered a season-ending injury last week, Louisville infielder Nick Senzel admitted that 2018 has been a difficult season.
"It's been a tough year -- probably the most challenging year I've had in the Minor Leagues," he said a week before the injury while he and the Bats were playing in Toledo. "I missed almost a month with [the vertigo] reappearing, and just not being healthy [has been hard].

"But I think it has allowed me to step back and realize how blessed I am to play this game. Now I'm back and feeling healthy -- this is the best I've felt in a long time."
That makes this week's torn tendon on his right index finger all the more frustrating. Senzel suffered a mild shoulder injury at the end of April that caused him to miss a few games, then missed a large part of May with a second bout of vertigo.
That all appeared to be behind Senzel, the Reds' top prospect and the No. 5 prospect in baseball, when the calendar flipped to June. And when Louisville manager Dick Schofield penciled Senzel into the Bats leadoff spot, that seemed to flip a switch as well.
Senzel had four hits in his first game in that spot and just kept swinging. In 12 games batting leadoff he hit .440 (22-for-50) with five doubles, three homers, 12 RBIs and 10 runs scored.

"It's just a switch in the lineup to try and give our offense a spark," Senzel said of the move to leadoff. "I can steal some bags, and I can be aggressive and selective as I need to so I can get the offense going.
"It's just something that has worked in our favor. ... Balls are getting through holes and falling in the outfield. When I get a good pitch to hit, I'm just having success hitting those pitches."
That hot streak lifted Senzel's batting mark for the season from .256 to .310 and gave him six homers, 25 RBI and 23 runs scored in 44 games.
"He never gives an at-bat away, whether we're up nine or down nine," Schofield said. "He runs to first the same way on every ball he hits.
"What you see is what you get on an everyday basis from him. He's pretty even-keeled."
Senzel's season in Louisville also included an appearance at shortstop on June 16 as the Reds continue to deliberate on what position he will play in the majors. Senzel played 28 games at second base for the Bats and 14 at third.

"For him, it's about getting comfortable wherever they put him," Schofield said. "In spring training, it was shortstop. Here's it has been mostly second base and third base.
"But catching a ground ball is catching a ground ball. At third it might get on you pretty quick, but I think he's a pretty good third baseman who also can play second base and shortstop.
"He's a pretty good athlete -- he could probably play center field if they asked him to."
Senzel was stationed at second base on June 22 when a first-inning ground ball struck his finger oddly. But he stayed in the game, and later in the inning he took a relay from the outfield and threw the runner out at the plate -- but felt a "pop" and left the game.
So his season is over, which leaves the question as to where Senzel will play in the Majors unanswered for now. When asked before the injury what position he would prefer to play, Senzel smiled slyly and said, "The position that gets me to the Big Leagues."
Unfortunately, the answer to that question, as well as the question of when Senzel will get to the majors, has been pushed back to next year.

In brief

Roach on a roll: Charlotte starter Donn Roach has won his last five starts, improving his season's record to 8-2 while lowering his ERA to 2.75 in 14 appearances. In his last five starts, the right-hander has surrendered just 30 hits and six walks in 32 2/3 innings while fanning 26. Roach has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts.
Bouncing back: Rochester left-hander Stephen Gonsalves struggled in a start at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 11, surrendering nine hits and five walks in four innings. But in the two starts that followed the 23-year-old was impressive, giving up just three hits in 10 2/3 scoreless innings. The only problem with those two starts is that Gonsalves did surrender eight walks. On the season, Gonsalves has a 5-3 record with a 4.56 ERA.
He said it: "I just tried to put [the home runs] behind me as fast as I could. Once it happens, it happens, and you just have to focus and executed that next pitch the best you can." -- Gwinnett LHP Kolby Allard to the Gwinnett Daily Post on June 21 after he gave up two home runs in the first three innings of a start against Toledo. Those were the only runs the 20-year-old lefty allowed over six innings in a contest the Stripers eventually won 7-6. Allard also struck out eight, tying his season high, and now has a 2.44 ERA and 59 whiffs in 81 innings.
He said it, version 2.0: "It would be really cool to make [the Triple-A All-Star Game] because it's something I've always wanted to do. I thought I was going to make it in 2012 [while in double-A], but I was called up to Triple-A. It's a grind, and I'm just waiting for my next chance. I enjoy playing the game. I tell these younger guys to enjoy the game." -- Columbus OF Brandon Barnes to The [Columbus] Dispatch. Barnes is a strong candidate to earn a spot on the IL roster: He is hitting .287 with eight homers and is second in the league with 45 RBIs.