The lightly spoken-of elephant in the room must be mentioned first. Jonathan India has been sick for the majority of the last two seasons. The one season he was really healthy (2021) was fantastic for both him and the Cincinnati Reds, as he batted his way to the National League Rookie of the Year Award while also being the most valued position player on the squad (according Baseball Reference).
While it may not be the only reason I’m writing an article about ‘finding’ a place for him in the Reds lineup, there’s a fair chance that if he stays healthy, he’ll be good enough to play every day. The thing is, the previous two seasons gave him with nary an obstacle to proving he could return to his 2021 level, whereas the 2024 Reds squad may have included enough fail-safes to deny him a plethora of opportunities to do so.
The alternatives surrounding the infield are plentiful. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario, Noelvi Marte, and Spencer Steer do not only exist, but they can also hit right-handed. At least three or four of them are projected as potentially above-average defenders, something India has yet to demonstrate in any season, including 2021. As a result, manager David Bell began discussing giving India time at positions other than his customary second base throughout the 2024 season in order to get his bat into the lineup.
The natural instinct is to advise that he, a right-handed hitter, be stacked into the lineup when the club confronts LHP. With TJ Friedl, Will Benson, and Jake Fraley all left-handed hitters in the outfield, putting him in a corner spot opposite, say, Spencer Steer would appear to make sense on paper, but that’s a major issue for India.
He has a career OPS of.732 versus LHP, but a considerably higher.783 against RHP. For the record, Kevin Newman’s career OPS versus LHP is also.732. Only seven of his 48 career home runs have come against southpaws, and his.380 slugging percentage ranks 75th among the 80 right-handed MLB batters who have at least 400 PA against LHP since the beginning of 2021. He has a career OPS of.732 versus LHP, but a considerably higher.783 against RHP. For the record, Kevin Newman’s career OPS versus LHP is also.732. Only seven of his 48 career home runs have come against southpaws, and his.380 slugging percentage ranks 75th among the 80 right-handed MLB batters who have at least 400 PA against LHP since the beginning of 2021.
His.345 slugging average ranks 98th among the 102 right-handed MLB batters who had at least 250 plate appearances against LHP since the start of the 2022 season. Since the start of the 2022 season, he has a.303 wOBA versus LHP, which ranks 14th among the 21 Reds hitters who have logged at least 60 PA against southpaws in that span, and well behind, say, Stuart Fairchild (.343 wOBA in 152 PA).
