CINCINNATI -- The Braves made big news on Wednesday by calling up left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., their No. 1 prospect and the second-ranked prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. For those who follow the Reds, it raises the question: When will it be time for infielder Nick Senzel to be called up from Triple-A Louisville?
Senzel is the Reds' top prospect and No. 7 overall, and general manager Dick Williams has noted that the club wants to make sure the 22 year old is fully ready when he does get the call. Williams also wants the promotion to be dictated by performance and not big league club need.
"For me, I'd just listen to [player development director] Jeff Graupe, his staff," Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "Right now, [manager] Dickie Schofield and [hitting coach] Leon Durham are down there with him. They can give you a lot of information about how close he is and all that. Certainly, necessity will create certain things. Assuming everyone's healthy and all that, it gives you a chance to let the people dealing with it to make the decision."
Riggleman has had Senzel's first Louisville manager, Pat Kelly, as his bench coach since Cincinnati replaced Bryan Price last week. But Riggleman said he didn't ask Kelly about how Senzel was playing.
"I see reports. I cherish the opportunity to manage the 25 I have," Riggleman said. "If the decision is made to bring on someone else, that's great. If not, I don't want to interfere with Dick and [front office members] Sam [Grossman] and Billy Doran, Jeff Graupe, what their schedule is for Nick."
Senzel has mostly played second base for Louisville this season, along with his natural position of third base. He went 0-for-4 Tuesday afternoon and is batting .231/.315/.338 in 16 games. Acuna, 20, had similar numbers for Triple-A Gwinnett before he was given his much-anticipated promotion.
While Riggleman, who spent a large part of his coaching career in player development -- including 2012-15 with the Reds -- believes in getting input from a player's Minor League manager and trusting his opinion on a callup.
"Do you have a magic point there to get it just right? Certainly, not always," Riggleman said. "I remember Keith Hernandez, a great prospect in the Cardinals' organization. He went up and hit about .170. They sent him back. The next time up, he took off. It's not an exact science."
Hughes, Riggleman not concerned about stretching limits
During Tuesday's 9-7 win over Atlanta in 12 innings, reliever Jared Hughes threw 42 pitches over the final 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory. It was his longest outing since he threw three innings for the Pirates against the Cubs on July 9, 2016.

Before Hughes, Riggleman used Amir Garrett for 2 1/3 innings. Garrett gave up three runs in the ninth before the game went into extras. Although he didn't expect to emulate what managers did in the last couple of postseasons -- such as the Indians with Andrew Miller and the Dodgers with Kenley Jansen -- the new Reds skipper is showing he doesn't worry about extending his relievers.
"What Jared did last night, that used to be fairly routine. I know it's not routine anymore and I'm taking him out of his comfort level," Riggleman said. "I think we can raise the bar a little bit about how much more we can get out of guys. This thing of 65 innings for a reliever and that's enough -- you wished that's all you needed because your starters are going that far, but I think we can get a lot more out of them. We don't want to get anybody hurt. But it looks like, to me, that they all get hurt anyway."
Hughes, who was signed to a two-year contract during the offseason, didn't mind stretching his usual limits.
"You look at my track record, it was definitely a different thing for me," Hughes said on Wednesday. "But it's only different in recent memory. When I first got called up and later in the Minors, I threw long relief. I was a starter at times. I was a swing guy in Double-A. I have a history of knowing how to handle it. But for me, it's always just about forcing contact and keeping the pitch count down."
UMPS Care Auction
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