You may be right, I may be crazy-Billy Joel. IDK-just offering up observations. I cannot stand called third strikes especially in the middle of the zone. I was taught many moons ago to not be a "guess" hitter. Think fastball and adjust. It's not just Geno as well, plenty of them up and down every lineup. Nick C. always swinging at breaking pitches that don't even start in the zone.
I will let you all figure it out. Like our starting arms a lot. More than likely wouldn't be in this position if we had an average bullpen from day one. Cincy is a great town when the Reds are in the hunt.
And no doubt, we are criticizing highly skilled athletes who are the best at what they do. I feel hitting a baseball (at the major league level) may be one of the most difficult things to do in sports.
I know for me, I wasn't a very good hitter and I only played up to small college baseball. I'm guessing I may have seen a few 80+ mph fastballs, but nothing like what major league batters see. You really have split seconds to:
A. See the pitch
B. Read the spin - backward rotation - fastball, side or top to bottom - breaking ball, and then judging the speed also - change up.
C. Is the ball in the strike zone?
You are correct, the starting rotation has been kind of under appreciated this season. Now they haven't pitched great all the time, but Castillo, Gray, Mahle and Miley have started mostly the whole season, and Gutierrez was added in June and hasn't missed a beat.
The biggest fallacy I see with this team is their lack of ability to manufacture runs. The lack of team speed, coupled with Bell's insistence that they don't steal bases or even start runners makes it very a very station to station, stagnant team. In 2014-17, Todd Frazier, who was slow, stole 20-15-13 bases those years just when pitchers wouldn't pay attention to him. Now his percentage wasn't great as he was thrown out a few times, but I just think when you're in an offensive funk like the Reds are now, starting the runner occasionally puts pressure on the defense. Also, if the pitcher knows 100% you are not stealing, he's completely focused on the batter. You put that notion that you may run, all the sudden he's more worried about holding the runner close and can't focus on pitching.