Infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel According to El Extrabase’s Danielálvarez-Montes, it has signed with Tecolotes de Los dos Laredos of the Mexican League. Senzel is represented by Boras Corporation.
Senzel, 30, used to be a significant prospect, but he couldn’t take advantage of his major league opportunities. The Reds picked him with the second pick in the 2016 draft, and he posted a lot of numbers among minors, cutting it at 0.314/.390/.513 in the 2016-18 season. Baseball America ranked him as Cincinnati’s highest prospect and one of the ten best leagues across the league from 2017 to 2019.
This gives him a lot of big league opportunities that he has never been able to take advantage of. From 2019 to 2023, the Reds gave him quite normal game time. The injury limits him to only 23 games in 2020 and only 36 of 36 games in 2021, but he has played at least 104 games in the other three seasons.
By the end of the 2023 campaign, he had 1,366 major league games, but had only 33 home runs, a 7.6% walk rate and .239/.302/.369 Slash Line. His 76 WRC+ in this range shows that he is 24% worse than the league average overall. The Reds are the prospect of a prospect player, giving him some off-field time to improve his versatility, but it doesn’t matter to that boring offensive performance, and he doesn’t get a strong defensive level anywhere.
Entering 2024, the Red Army continues to advance. They refused to let him bid on his contract for that season, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz predicted a 3mm salary and sent Senzel to free agent instead. He signed a 2mm deal with the Nationals, and Senzel’s plan to take over as Washington’s daily third baseman.
Unfortunately, he broke his thumb before the opening day’s game and missed the previous weeks. He returned in mid-April and then cut .209/.303/.359 in 64 games. He was assigned as a mission in early July. He then signed with the White Sox but reached only .100/.129/.133 in ten games. He was designated as a mission and returned to free agents by the end of August. So far, he still has no signature.
It doesn’t seem like Senzel has received a MLB offer from any club, which is not surprising, according to his figures. Instead, he will head to Mexico to join Tecolotes to see if he can turn things around. Based on his past promising lineage, the team will definitely keep an eye on him to see if his grades have improved. If that passes, maybe he can return to the attached ball along the line.
