Reds at the All-Star break: Best and worst of first half

“This team has really battled,” Nick Krall said Sunday. “We’ve got a lot of come-from-behind wins. The coaching staff has done a tremendous job with the guys here. We have had a lot of injuries. I think at one point we had 14 guys on our 40-man roster between the big leagues and the minor leagues that were on the injured list. So it’s definitely been a challenge, but it’s been fun to watch these guys continue to grind. We battled back even in the last few days to win ballgames.”

The Reds finished the first half Sunday on a high note, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 on the road to win the series 3-1. They’ll start the second half Friday at Great American Ball Park with another series against the first-place Brewers (53-39).

The Reds face a four-game deficit in the National League Central Division and trail the San Diego Padres (53-40) by 3½ games in the race for the second wild card.

According to FanGraphs.com, the Reds have a 15.5 percent chance of winning the division, a 7.2 percent chance of winning a wild card and a 22.8 percent chance of reaching the playoffs in one of the two ways. They’re in much better shape than they were at the end of June when they had an 8.5 percent chance of playing in the postseason.

If the strong play continues in July, the Reds could elect to be buyers at the trade deadline.

“If there’s something we can do to supplement this team help this team continue to win ballgames,” Krall said, “we’re definitely open to it.”

Before moving on to the second half, it’s a good time to review the first 90 games. Here’s a breakdown:

MVP: In his second season with the Reds, Nick Castellanos has delivered the best half season of his career. He leads the team in batting average (.331), RBIs (54) and doubles (29) and is tied for second on the team with 17 home runs.

No Red has led the National League in batting average since Pete Rose (.338) in 1973. At the break, Castellanos has a one-point lead over Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier.

Castellanos earned his first All-Star game selection and was voted into the starting lineup along with fellow Reds outfielder Jesse Winker, who’s hitting .301 and leads the Reds with 19 home runs.

“It’s a huge honor,” Castellanos told the MLB Network on Monday. “I’m happy him and I have been able to put together this first half. It’s been a lot of fun. We feed off each other. We keep each other in check. We hype each other up. It’s a group effort here.”

Best rookie: Second baseman Jonathan India made his big-league debut on Opening Day and leads the team in on-base percentage (.397) and walks (41). He wins this honor by a slight edge over fellow rookie Tyler Stephenson, who has shared catching duties with Tucker Barnhart.

India’s hitting .275 with six home runs and 35 RBIs in 79 games. Stephenson, who debuted in 2020, is hitting .282 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 72 games.

Best starting pitcher: Wade Miley is 7-4 and has a 2.80 ERA in 16 starts. The Reds are 11-5 when he pitches and have won the last four times he has started.

Best reliever: Before he went on the injured list June 26, Tejay Antone had a 1.87 ERA in 22 appearances.

Best offseason acquisition: Tyler Naquin, who signed a minor league contract with the Reds in February after five seasons with the Cleveland Indians, ranks fourth on the team with 49 RBIs and 13 home runs. He’s hitting .242 in 79 games.

Best hitting performance: Winker hit three home runs and went 4-for-4 in a 9-4 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 21. Sixteen days later, Winker matched the feat with three home runs in an 8-7 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the first Red to hit three home runs in a game twice in one season.

Best pitching performance: Miley provided the biggest highlight of the first half by throwing a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on May 7.

Biggest disappointment (position players): Eugenio Suarez, a career .254 hitter, is batting .175. He has continued to hit for power with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs but ranks fourth in baseball with 107 strikeouts and has the third-worst on-base percentage (.256) in the game.

Biggest disappointment (pitchers): Amir Garrett, who hoped to win the closer’s role this year, has a 6.51 ERA in 37 games. He has pitched better in recent weeks. He has a 1.86 ERA in 15 appearances and 9 2/3 innings in the last 28 days.

As a group, Reds relievers have the third-worst ERA (5.15) in the National League but the third-best ERA (3.21) in the last 30 days.

Best game: The Reds beat the Cubs 13-12 on May 2. Castellanos delivered a walk-off single in the 10th inning in a game that featured 10 home runs.

Worst loss: The Reds lost 19-4 to the San Francisco Giants on May 20. It was the 17th time in Reds history they allowed 19 or more runs.