I don’t know about you, but when you root for a club, and they trade, DFA or let a player go in free agency, I usually root and usually follow that player on his new team. Except, of course when that player returns to take on his old team. That was how I was with Nick Senzel.

If you remember, Senzel was selected him second overall in the 2016 draft out of Tennessee. He was a can’t miss prospect, most scouts thought he was already a polished hitter, and was average on defense when the Reds selected him. It only took him 3 years to make his MLB debut, and he played for the Reds from his debut in 2019 until the conclusion of the 2023 season. A span where he received 1366 plate appearances for Cincinnati with an unimpressive slash line of .239/.302/.369. This past off-season the Red’s choose to non-tender him, so he signed a $2MM 1 year deal with the Nationals, who DFA’ed him on July 6th.

With the Nationals, in 235 plate appearances his again unimpressive slash line was .209/.303/.359 with the bat and 0.1 fWar over 64 games at third base with the glove. That works out to a 90 wRC+, which is 10% under league average. Giving him his credit he does have an 11.5% walk rate for the season, which is very good.

Earlier in the week the Nationals also DFA’ed outfielder Eddie Rosario, and his old team, the Atlanta Braves swooped him up. Will Cincinnati do the same with Senzel? I don’t think so, or at least I would not be willing to lay down any substantial money on it happening.

But, as a fan who watched Senzel for the better part of those 5 MLB seasons with the Reds, I blame 2 major factors for the career woes of Senzel. His laundry list of injuries, which continued in Washington with a fractured thumb that cost him the first 3 weeks of the season, and a Red’s organization who literally could not decide where to play him. In those 5 seasons he played the most games in the outfield overall at 303, second most games in center field at 267, third most at third base, which was the position he played at Tennessee, with 109. He also had games at DH, left field, right field, and even second base. I am not trying to say that the Red’s ruined his career, but asking him to play multiple positions (he was negative in Defensive Runs Saved at all the positions he played except for the 16 games at second base) but, it did not do him any favors. I wish they just would have left him at third base and allowed him to grow and mature there.

I still wish Nick well. There is a chance that I will get to cheer him on yet another team, when not playing against the Reds. I just wish the change of scenery would have worked out better for the 29 year old Senzel (he turned 29 on June 29th) in our Nation’s Capital.

Stat credit; MLBTradeRumors.com, BaseballReference.com

Photo Credit; Cincinnati Enquirer, Fox News, AOL.com, Newsday

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