It was a bit of a down week in the great city of Cincinnati. However, the Reds had a full slate, the college baseball regionals took place and we saw promotions in Highland Heights! This week on the Nati Report:
- Elly De La Cruz on the IL
- Miles Robinson to the USMNT means history for FC Cincinnati
- Cincinnati and Kentucky Baseball fight in the NCAA tournament
- NKU Promotes 2 Assistants
- Travis Steele gets a contract extension
Pro Sports
Bengals: The Bengals had another uneventful week, but the off-season is heating up.
Session one of OTAs starts today and goes through Wednesday. As for our coverage of the Bengals, schedule and AFC North previews will be coming out this week.
FCC: No news for FC Cincy as they are on a World Cup break. However, Miles Robinson was named to the US World Cup team. This makes him the first FC Cincinnati player to make a US World Cup Roster!
Reds: The Reds went 3-3 this week against the Mets and Braves. Here is a brief recap of each game.
5/25 | Reds beat Mets 7-2 | Citi Field
The Reds scored seven straight runs in the first four innings here. This was highlighted by a solo shot by JJ Bleday and a two-run home run by Tyler Stephenson. Spencer Steer also added a two RBI single.
5/26 | Reds beat Mets 7-2 | Citi Field
The Reds took a similar path in this game, starting with an Eugenio Suarez two RBI double, a Tyler Stephenson RBI single, a two RBI double by Elly De La Cruz, and a Sal Stewart RBI single.
5/27 | Mets beat Reds 4-2 | Citi Field
New York started out hot, with solo homers by Juan Soto and Eric Wagaman. Nathaniel Lowe hit an RBI single to make it 2-1. NY stretched it to 3-1 shortly after. Sal Stewart brought in Tyler Stephenson off an infield single to make it 3-2. However, the Reds could never take the lead back.
5/29 | Braves beat Reds 8-3 | Great American Ballpark
Chris Paddack had a rough start for Cincy, letting up four runs in two innings. The Reds did have an offensive outburst due to homers by Nathaniel Lowe and JJ Bleday, plus an RBI single by Sal Stewart.
5/30 | Braves beat Reds 5-2 | Great American Ballpark
Atlanta went nuclear in this game, smacking four home runs. The Redlegs had a lone two-run homer by JJ Bleday.
5/31 | Reds beat Braves 6-4 | Great American Ballpark
This was a solid game for Cincy, starting off with an RBI double by JJ Bleday, who has been on a heater recently. He came back and did it again in the third. Will Benson extended the lead in the fourth with an RBI double of his own. Eugenio Suarez hit a sac-fly to take a 4-2 lead into the sixth. PJ Higgins smacked his own RBI double and Suarez hit a solo shot an inning later to take a 6-3 lead. Atlanta could not rebound. Of note, however, Elly did get injured early in this matchup and has been placed on the 10-day IL with a hamstring injury.
It was a decent week for the Reds, winning a series against a team they should have and competing with arguably the best team in baseball. JJ Bleday and Sal Stewart have been absolutely outstanding recently.
Jumping to the week ahead…
June 1st-3rd | Royals @ Reds | Great American Ballpark
The Royals have been struggling, sitting at 22-37 and fourth in the AL Central. If you have been reading these articles weekly, you’d know that I point out the strong stats for each group the Reds play. As for the Royals, they only are top five in one team stat. That is quality starts (second with 30). This is partly due to Michael Wacha, who is tied for first in the league in quality starts with nine. On offense, KC has the star that is Bobby Witt Jr; he is fourth in the league in stolen bases (17), and fifth in hits (67).
Goal: Three Wins
June 5th-7th | Reds @ Cardinals | Busch Stadium
The Reds are in tight contention with St. Louis in the race for the coveted NL Central pennant. Series like these ones are extremely pivotal. The Cardinals happen to not have a single top five major team stat on their resume. Individually, they have an extremely solid closer in Riley O’Brien. The Reds met with St. Louis once this season and they only played twice due to weather, splitting the two games.
Goal: Two Wins
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College Sports:
This week was considerably slower from a college standpoint. Both Cincinnati and Kentucky were involved in baseball regional action, but other than that, the college season is wrapped up at this time.
Cincinnati won their first game vs. Louisiana before falling twice in their next two (vs. Mississippi State, and vs. Louisiana). That brings the season to an official end and now the transfer portal becomes a priority. Keegan Nickoson with The Bearcat Journal asked coach Jordan Bischel about bringing back Coats/Pitts/Infelise after their season ended. Here’s the direct quote:
“I believe that those guys, um, we want what’s best for those guys. That’s what I’ll say. I want Derek and Quinton and Enzo and every guy in our program to be wherever they’re going to be the happiest. I believe they think that’s Cincinnati, and I don’t think dollar signs are gonna change that for them.
“If there is a place where they can be happier, I will help them get into the portal and get to those places. I think they know that. I think they know how special our program is, and I think those guys will be wearing Cincinnati uniforms next year.”
Say what you want about the state of college sports and the transfer portal, but this is a significant positive overall for the Bearcats. Bischel is showing a level of emotional maturity you don’t see from many coaches, and while doing so is fostering an environment where players are going to feel comfortable coming to and thriving. The Bearcat admins need to do everything they can to lock him up for as long as possible.
For Kentucky, they started the West Virginia regional with 2 wins, first against Wake Forest and then against West Virginia. However, the lack of pitching depth caught up to the Cats on Sunday and they blew a late lead on WVU and lost. They play Monday at 6:00 ET on ESPN2 in a winner take all matchup with the Mountaineers!
As far as other updates, NKU promoted two coaches this week. Simon McCormack and David Harris were both promoted to Associate Head Coach. Both have been with the program since 2019-20 and bring a level of continuity and sustained success that the Norse needed to acknowledge. Giving both this promotion does just that.
For the Miami RedHawks, they signed head basketball coach Travis Steele to a contract extension, making him the second-highest-paid MAC coach! The deal is worth up to $8 million over eight years, featuring a base salary of $850,000 per year plus a $150,000 retention bonus (exact terms of the retention bonus were not revealed, but it appears to be related to obtaining an 80% retention of players year-over-year.)
Kentucky and Louisville continue to wait on Milan’s decision and there’s not much more to discuss on that front until we know more!
As we enter the offseason, the Nati Report may look a bit different week-to-week, but I’ve got player interviews, coach interviews and some other things in the works to provide further insight into our local programs! Make sure to like and subscribe!
Finally, in case you missed it, the first episode of the Sansom Sports Media podcast went live on Sunday 5/30!