Kyle Farmer Has Had A Drastic Turnaround For The Reds

For a talented MLB player, there is nothing that can help him more when he is slumping than receiving the support of the entire organization.

Slumps often get to a hitter’s mind, as he starts wondering when the team will send him down or reduce his playing time.

This anxiety is not good for performance.

The Cincinnati Reds may be accused of lots of things (most of them could be right, to be fair), but we can’t say they didn’t stick with shortstop Kyle Farmer while he was struggling.

“Kyle Farmer had a stretch in April/May where he went 3 for 49 (.061). Since that ended, he leads MLB with a .394 AVG, leads the NL with a .450 OBP and is 2nd in the NL with 1.036 OPS,” statistician Joel Luckhaupt tweeted.

Kyle Farmer had a stretch in April/May where he went 3 for 49 (.061). Since that ended, he leads MLB with a .394 AVG, leads the NL with a .450 OBP and is 2nd in the NL with 1.036 OPS.

— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) June 24, 2022

He Has Made Improvements At The Plate

Farmer probably won’t ever win a Silver Slugger award, but he showed last year that the combination of his decent offense with his great defense made him a regular in MLB.

In 147 games last year, he hit 16 home runs and had a career-high .732 OPS.

Well, he is besting those numbers in 2022, even if we include his ugly slump.

Right now, before Friday’s games, Farmer is slashing .286/.346/.432 with five homers, four stolen bases, and a .778 OPS that makes him well-above average with the bat.

He was about average last season, so there definitely has been some improvements at the plate.

The Reds are being rewarded for having patience with him even through his slump.

Now, the 31-year-old is clearly playing like a solid regular, even if his team is not going anywhere in 2022.

It’s a nice story for a resilient, talented player.