“It was kind of a crazy deal,” Schebler said. “I get thrown right in the fire. I like it.”
The Reds plan to keep Schebler in the starting lineup. He hit .311 in Louisville and was named the International League Player of the Month in July when he hit .359 with six home runs and 18 RBIs. Schebler saw limited action with the Reds off the bench in April and May, hitting .188 in 64 at-bats.
Schebler credited his hot streak in Louisville to “getting those consistent at-bats.” He said, “You kind of fix things if you’re getting at-bats every day. You do something wrong, and then you can go fix it the next day. Once I got hot, I stayed there.”
Other addition: Renda was one of four players acquired from the New York Yankees — along with pitchers Caleb Cotham and Rookie Davis and infielder Eric Jagielo — in the trade for Aroldis Chapman in December.
Renda hit .326 in 68 games at Double-A Pensacola and .280 in 23 games with Louisville. When Renda appears in a game, it will be his big-league debut, and he’ll be the 11th Red to debut this season.
“He plays with a lot of energy,” Price said. “It’ll be nice to have him and (Tyler) Holt on the same bench because they both bring a lot of life and energy.”
Peraza to Louisville: Shortstop Jose Peraza was sent down to Louisville. He will team with second baseman Dilson Herrera in the infield. That could be the Reds' middle infield of the future.
“It is a benefit for those guys to get to know each other,” Price said. “I look at Jose more as a middle infielder than I see him as a center fielder or left fielder, and he could have been plugged into and played regularly in the outfield, but I do believe the long term looks brighter for him as a middle infielder, so it made more sense for him and Herrera to go play together a little bit and get used to each other. I’m sure if we don’t see (Peraza) in August, we’ll see him in September.”
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