Perhaps Andrew Abbott was simply foreshadowing the impact the Class AA Chattanooga Lookouts would have on this year’s Cincinnati Reds back on April 6.
In the first game of Chattanooga’s season, Abbott struck out 11 Rocket City Trash Pandas, including the first nine he faced.
“It was fun for sure,” Abbott said several days later of his terrific tone-setter. “I just wanted a good start and to get the season off on a good note. I didn’t really know I was doing that until after it was over. After three innings, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve just K’d nine straight.’
“It doesn’t hit you when you’re doing it. It was surreal.”
Surreal would be an accurate way of describing how Abbott, shortstop Matt McLain and third baseman Elly De La Cruz have exploded out of the gate in their first season with the Reds, who suddenly have become one of the most exciting teams in the sport. Cincinnati recently won 12 straight games and is battling the Milwaukee Brewers for National League Central Division supremacy nearing the midway mark of this year’s race.
It was a completely different existence for last year’s Reds, who started with a wretched 3-22 record and finished 62-100.
“You turn on the TV late at night, and you’ve got ESPN highlights of our younger kids and our veteran guys, and you see the energy level that they bring,” Reds player development director Shawn Pender said this week. “The same thing is going on in Chattanooga and (Triple-A) Louisville. It’s a wonderful thing to build a culture and to have players who are really directed, which is happening. These are some blue-collar kids who play the game hard, and they get after it.
“Winning is fun, and you see a guy like Joey Votto who is energized because we’re relevant again. That’s all professional baseball players want. They want to win, and they want to be relevant in a pennant race, and we’re doing that.”
TALENTED TRIO
Abbott’s first three starts for the Lookouts this season yielded a 1-0 record and a 1.15 earned run average, and he racked up 36 strikeouts in 16 innings. He was promoted to a brief stint at Louisville and has been so impressive through five starts with the Reds that his stat line Tuesday night at Baltimore — two hits and one run allowed in six innings with eight strikeouts — actually raised his ERA from 1.14 to 1.21.
“The great thing about him is that he knows who he is,” Pender said. “He’s not going to change his approach, and he has three plus pitches with above average ability to locate and command. He is learning that the good stuff in Double-A works in Triple-A and in the big leagues as well.
“I think he’s just staying the course and getting the same results, at least to this point, which is great.”
Abbott was efficient after arriving in Chattanooga last May, but he experienced a midseason lull and finished 7-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 20 starts. His last three starts were productive, and he obviously has been able to carry that over.
McLain spent all of last season with the Lookouts, hitting .232 in 103 games, but Pender and the Reds saw enough positives to start him this year in Louisville, where he hit .348 in 38 contests before receiving his promotion to the big leagues. He has hit .321 through his first 39 games with Cincinnati, compiling 12 doubles, four triples, six home runs and 24 RBIs.
In Sunday’s 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves, McLain had four extra-base hits.
“In fairness to Matt, from the moment he got to the Reds, we’ve pushed him,” Pender said, “because we felt that he was mentally capable of handling the kind of adversity that is required when you take a kid from a competitive college environment, which he certainly had at UCLA. We started him in (high Single-A) Dayton, which was a significant jump, and then we pushed him in Double-A. He had some nicks, and he had some issues where he got hurt, but he continued to perform and compete defensively, and on the bases he did a marvelous job.
“The only things that have really changed for Matt are his pitch selection and his maturity, and that takes time. Last year was a great test. He showed that he belonged, so we sent him to Triple-A, and he’s never hesitated.”
De La Cruz has been electric at every step of Cincinnati’s developmental ladder, hitting .302 at Dayton and .305 at Chattanooga last year and hitting .297 this spring in Louisville. In the 158 games he played at those three stops, he stole a whopping 58 bases.
His first 19 games with the Reds have yielded a .299 average with five doubles, two triples, three homers, 10 RBIs and eight steals. In last Friday’s 11-10 topping of the Braves, the 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic hit for the cycle.
“There are a lot of things about Elly that have surprised all of us,” Pender said. “He’s just so unique in the combination of his baseball tools. There just aren’t a ton of guys who are as powerful and as fast as he is. He has pure speed and pure bat speed, and it’s just tremendously fun to watch as a fan or as a baseball guy.
“What people don’t always see with Elly is the intellect. He has an innate feel for what he needs to be doing on the field. He’s very instinctive, and he’s just been blessed with all these usable tools to help elevate his team in such an exciting fashion.”
OTHER ALUMNI
The wave of Abbott, McClain and De La Cruz from Chattanooga to Cincinnati follows that of pitchers Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Brandon Williamson, though Greene (hip) and Lodolo (tibia) are currently sidelined. Votto hit .319 with the 2006 Lookouts and has attained legendary status with the Reds in his 17th season, while catcher and designated hitter Tyler Stephenson, center fielder TJ Friedl and closer Alexis Diaz also came through Chattanooga.
Friedl is hitting .313 through 57 games this season, while Diaz has a 1.85 ERA through 35 appearances with 22 saves.
It has been a banner year for former Lookouts now in Cincinnati, and the Reds are getting closer and closer to being able to comprise a starting lineup of players with Chattanooga backgrounds.
“There is a lot to be proud of,” Pender said, “and that’s not only for the Reds but all the people who are involved with the Lookouts and their involvement with our players over the last three to five seasons, because that’s really what it’s been.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.