The Reds have provided us with a few entertaining shocks this season, despite the fact that their season has gone in a more-or-less predicted direction.
In May, Derek Dietrich dunked a dozen dongers. In his first couple weeks in the majors, Aristides Aquino had just as many hits.
With one massive collective German suplex, Yasiel Puig slammed 12 Pirates.
Josh VanMeter, meanwhile, arrived this spring and quickly turned himself from a scrub in the back of the minor-league bus to a potential future cornerstone of the club.
Josh VanMeter has 172 plate appearances in his early MLB career, and may God bless us with many, many more. In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t much. It’s not even a third of a season.
The college sophomores among us will shrug and remark dismissively, “small sample size.” Which, like college sophomores, is only partially correct because it leaves out a lot of complexity and context.
True, 172 big-league PAs is a small sample size. Making predictions about his line drive rate, on-base percentage, and batting average isn’t enough. Rate statistics, on the other hand, stabilize at various rates!
Is Josh VanMeter Married?
Josh VanMeter is not married yet but he proposed to his long-term girlfriend Paige Frisch last year, They are yet to marry soon.