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Press Clippings July 19, 2018 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1985-The Reds trade and to the Rangers for . Bell will spend four seasons with the Reds, collecting a .266 batting average, with 63 doubles, 43 home runs, 184 RBI and 185 walks with just 118 MLB.COM Reds end first half hot, but '19 is still main focus Cincinnati's surge helps avoid need for bigger-scale rebuild; Harvey likely to be flipped By Mark Sheldon MLB.com @m_sheldon Jul. 18th, 2018

CINCINNATI -- It seems quite the contradiction that the Reds are both in fifth place in the Central and one of the hottest teams in the Major Leagues.

Yet that's exactly where Cincinnati is with a 43-53 record at the All-Star break. The situation is much more optimistic than when the season started. Manager was let go after a 3-15 record, and interim manager was brought in on April 19. The Reds have gone 40-38 under Riggleman.

While Riggleman deserves credit, he also benefitted from the return of Eugenio Suarez and from the disabled list and rebounding from a slow start. The rotation -- aided by the healthy return of Anthony DeSclafani and the acquisition of -- has found a groove.

Since June 10, the Reds' 21-10 record is best in the National League. While their postseason hopes remain a long shot, there is still plenty of time for the club to feel like it salvaged 2018 and that it built something towards contending in '19.

Here are where things stand for the Reds at the All-Star break, with the non-waiver Trade Deadline approaching on July 31:

Current status: Seller

This fact should be qualified, somewhat. Had the April start continued that trajectory throughout the first half, the Reds would be huge sellers and looking to start the rebuild over. President of operations recently told MLB.com the club would still look to make moves for the short-term and long-term future, but Cincinnati is clearly not prepping for a .

What they are seeking

Starting pitching. If this rebuild has taught the Reds anything, it's that even the best projections for young starters don't always pan out immediately -- or at all. Several of the young, promising starters that were expected to be come into their own in 2018 simply haven't. and have endured inconsistency throughout this season. had a sensational June but had more than a few bumps early on. has proven to be most effective out of the bullpen and has largely thrived as a reliever. After a rough start and demotion, is at Triple-A Louisville converting to a reliever. Robert Stephenson and are also with Louisville.

What they have to offer

The Reds have a few attractive trade chips and only one key player in Harvey who is not under club control for 2019. Although it now appears is unlikely to be dealt, the Reds will try to flip Harvey to capitalize on his value increase since coming from the Mets in May. Relievers like , and David Hernandez have cost-effective contracts. Billy Hamilton and could also potentially be had.

Possible scenario

It only seems like a matter of time before the Reds flip Harvey for a better return after they got him from the Mets for catcher on May 8. Since the trade, he is 5-3 with a 3.64 ERA and 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA over his last five starts. A at season's end with postseason experience, he would be a rental for a contending club needing a complementary but effective piece in their rotation. Harvey is back to throwing up to 96 mph and would probably net at least one quality prospect in return. Reds lose Schebler to DL with shoulder sprain By Mark Sheldon MLB.com @m_sheldon Jul. 18th, 2018

CINCINNATI -- One of the hotter hitters in the Reds' lineup will open the season's second half on the disabled list. On Wednesday, Cincinnati placed Scott Schebler on the 10-day DL, retroactive to Sunday, with a sprained acromioclavicular (AC) joint in his right shoulder.

Schebler was forced to exit Saturday's 8-2 win over the Cardinals after he collided with the wall to make a catch, and while initial X-rays came back negative, Wednesday's diagnosis forced the club's hand.

It was not known how long Schebler is expected to be out.

A corresponding roster move will be made prior to Friday night's game against the Pirates at . This season, Schebler is batting .278/.351/.470 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs. But he was batting .319 in his last 36 games going back to May 30.

With Schebler out, the Reds' four-man outfield rotation will now have three regulars with likely to get the bulk of the playing time in right field.

Wednesday's move marks Schebler's second trip to the DL this season. He missed 10 games in April with an ulnar nerve contusion in his right elbow after he was by a pitch from the Nationals' . CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Reds Hall of Fame Induction Gala features star-studded lineup Dave , Cincinnati Enquirer Published 6:17 p.m. ET June 15, 2018 | Updated 10:18 p.m. ET July 18, 2018

The Hall of Fame is expecting a star-studded lineup for its induction gala on July 22 - including six of the Big Machine's "Great Eight" and several of its as well as National Baseball Hall of Famer in addition to other former Reds greats.

With , and Tony Perez from the "Great Eight," the number of National Baseball Hall of Famers on the list scheduled to appear is four, and the total of Reds Hall of Famers is 21. (Dave Concepcion, and are the others from the "Great Eight" scheduled to attend.)

Starting and manager join in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame & Museum's Induction Class of 2018. Tickets are available here.

Bristol and Norman were selected by the Hall's , comprised of Hall of Famers, Reds executives, Hall of Fame board members, baseball historians and media members.

Dunn was selected last November by a combination of a fan vote, Reds alumni and votes from select media members.

Scott Rolen named Indiana University Baseball director of player development Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 6:00 p.m. ET July 18, 2018

Former Cincinnati Reds All-Star is the new Indiana University Baseball director of player development, the team announced on Wednesday.

Rolen played for the Reds from 2009 to 2012 and helped the team to a title in 2010. Rolen was a two-time All-Star with the Reds. He won a Gold Glove in his best season as a Red and hit .285 with 20 homers and 83 RBIs.

More from iuhoosiers.com about hiring Rolen:

As the Director of Player Development, Rolen will with on-campus recruiting in accordance with NCAA rules. In addition to collaborating with the coaching staff when preparing for practice and competition, he will also give valuable advice to players on lifestyle choices and making informed decisions when pursuing pro baseball careers.

"I couldn't be more excited to add Scott Rolen to our staff," said Mercer. "The impact Scott will have on the student athletes in our baseball program will be unique among college programs. The value for the staff and players, gaining knowledge daily from someone with such a historic career and who truly values the growth of young people, is special."

In his first year on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, Rolen earned votes on 10.2 percent of 422 ballots cast by active members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Election requires 75 percent, but he did get more than the five percent needed to avoid falling off the ballot.

The Reds traded for Rolen in July of 2009, sending Edwin Encarnacion, and to the . The Reds were the last team for which Rolen played. He hit .281 with 316 home runs in 17 seasons for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds.

Among the Hoosiers' most successful former baseball players of late has been former Middletown High School standout , who reached the Home Derby final by hitting a derby semifinal-record 21 homers on Monday.

Cincinnati Reds placed outfielder Scott Schebler on the disabled list with shoulder injury Bobby Nightengale, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 3:45 p.m. ET July 18, 2018

When the Reds return from the All-Star break on Friday, they will be without one of their usual leadoff hitters.

Scott Schebler was placed on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. The move was retroactive to Sunday.

Schebler exited Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals after he fell into the right-field wall while making a catch in the sixth inning. After recording the out, with a runner on second base, Schebler flipped the ball from his back to center fielder Billy Hamilton.

“Once I got to the track, I kind of got turned around,” Schebler said afterward. “I made a little bit of a leap. I came down funny. The way I spun, I spun myself right into the wall. It didn’t feel very good.”

Initial X-rays were negative, but it wasn’t enough for Schebler to avoid his second stint on the disabled list this season.

He missed 15 games in April after he was hit by a pitch and suffered an ulnar nerve contusion in his right elbow.

During the month of July, Schebler was batting .275 with two homers and six RBI in 12 games.

Schebler’s injury shrinks the Reds’ four-man outfield rotation, likely allowing Adam Duvall to start in left field and Jesse Winker to play in right field.

The Reds are expected to make a corresponding roster move Friday.

ROOKIE REHAB: After undergoing hip surgery in the offseason, right-handed pitcher made his first rehab start at Class-A Daytona on Tuesday.

Davis, 25, allowed five hits and five runs (four earned) in five innings. He struck out three and walked one in 63 pitches.

On the 60-day disabled list, Davis made six Major League starts in 2017 while recording a 1-3 record and 8.63 ERA. His offseason surgery repaired a torn labrum and removed a bone spur.

Here's a plan for the Cincinnati Reds to consider in free agency: Keep the band together John Fay, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 12:02 p.m. ET July 18, 2018 | Updated 12:10 p.m. ET July 18, 2018

We’re less than two weeks from the trade deadline, so things will be heating up. Here’s a plan that may or may not be considered down at 100 Way:

“Let’s keep the band together.”

By that, I mean, stand pat. Don’t trade Matt Harvey. Don’t trade Raisel Iglesias. Don’t trade Adam Duvall. Don’t trade Billy Hamilton. Don’t trade Scooter Gennett.

I say that knowing that mathematically it is very difficult for the Cincinnati Reds even to get back in the playoff race – much less play into October. The Reds are 10 games out of the Wild Card with seven teams to jump over with 66 games to play.

But there may be some merit in keeping this team together and trying to win for the rest of the year. (If the Reds do that and do win, it pretty much assures Jim Riggleman of getting the permanent gig).

I fully understand that trading Harvey is the wise thing to do. He’s a free agent. Chances of him re-signing are limited. And he’d bring a decent return.

So why keep him and the others mentioned above?

First, the recent surge has really played well with the fans, according to my unscientific findings. “The Reds are really fun to watch,” is what I keep hearing over and over again.

This is from the same people who had given up in May. But when you go into the All-Star Break on a 21-10 roll, people take notice. It’s not only that the Reds are winning, it's how they’re winning.

Lots of offense.

Lots of comebacks.

Lots of players contributing.

The second reason to consider trying to win for the rest of the year is to keep that winning feeling going among the players. The Reds haven’t sniffed a winning season in any of the last four years.

That means only two players on the current active roster – Joey Votto and Billy Hamilton – have ever played on a winning Reds team. I thought about that last week when I was writing about Adam Dunn. Dunn played for the Reds for eight years. The team never won in that span.

When you lose every year, you get used to it. It becomes acceptable, and that’s a hard cycle to break. The Reds went nine years without a winning season until the cycle was broken in 2010.

Ending the current streak at four losing seasons is within reach because of the good play over nearly three months. The Reds are 40- 35 since their 3-18 start. That’s nearly a half-season of good, solid baseball – a start to breaking the losing cycle.

The other thing that’s shown is the Reds aren’t that far away. You could bring back the offense intact for 2019 and be confident that they’d score enough runs to win.

The Reds are third in the National League in runs, second in on-base percentage (.341) and fourth in on-base plus slugging (.748). When you have Joey Votto, Gennett and Eugenio Suárez in the middle, the rest of the lineup falls in order fairly easily.

The backend of the bullpen – Iglesias, Jared Hughes, David Hernandez, and Amir Garrett – have all been excellent. No reason to think they won’t be again in ’19.

As always, the starting pitching is the question. When the Reds added Harvey and Anthony DeSclafani and subtracted and Brandon Finnegan, the good, current roll got going. But starting pitching will have to be addressed in the offseason. Of course, the Reds could try to address that at the trade deadline.

And, again, that’s what conventional wisdom says to do.

But, while trading Harvey, Iglesias and whoever makes sense long-term, there’s little question that it’s going to make the Reds a worse team for the rest of 2018.

It’s impossible to quantify the effect of a good finish over a bad one. And the Reds would be foolish not to listen to offers on Harvey and Co.

But now that you’ve got the fans' attention back, it’s worth considering trying to keep and keep winning.

THE ATHLETIC Reds at the break: The good, the bad and what’s in store for the second half By C. Trent Rosecrans July 19, 2018

The performance of the three Reds in Tuesday’s All-Star Game was a nice microcosm of the team’s 2018 season up until this point – it started with futility (Joey Votto’s flyout in his first at-bat made him 0-for-11 in his All-Star career), continued with pain (Eugenio Suárez was hit in his first at-bat), then embarrassment (Votto’s costly error), before turning to success (Scooter Gennett’s game-tying homer in the ninth and Votto’s homer in the 10th).

In the knee-jerk Twitter age, the Reds’ season has seemed to turn as quickly as the fortunes of its participants in the game’s showcase in , D.C.

Votto went from goat to GOAT at on Tuesday and the Reds’ rebuild went from bust to boom in 96 games.

So, how did we end up here? As the Reds enter the second half of the season with more optimism than has been seen at Great American Ballpark in nearly half a decade, here’s what’s fueled the 2018 resurgence.

What went wrong

• Slow start: Slow? OK, glacial. And after just 21 games – and three wins – the Reds took action, firing manager Bryan Price and pitching coach Mack Jenkins.

The immediate result: A sweep at by regular tormentors the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Reds’ disabled list at the time had seven names on it, at least five of whom were expected to be regular contributors – Suárez, outfielder Scott Schebler, starter Anthony DeSclafani and relievers David Hernandez and Michael Lorenzen. (Rookie Davis and were also both on the DL at the time.)

Price and Jenkins never had the luxury of DeSclafani, Hernandez or Lorenzen and the team had won just one of its 10 games between Suárez and Schebler going on the DL and Price’s firing.

The list of reasons at that point for the Reds’ futility went beyond just the injuries, but also the performances of the players who were on the field. Starters had an ERA of 5.59 and relievers 5.17 when Price was fired.

The team had allowed, at that point, the most runs in the majors (100) and scored the third-fewest (54). Neither Votto nor Gennett had homered at the time and was the only one of the team’s healthy regulars at the time with an OPS better than .669.

So, in short, the team’s offense was bad and its pitching was worse.

• The Homer Bailey saga: The good news was that Homer Bailey was healthy at the start of the season. The bad news was that he wasn’t good.

Bailey made 12 starts with the Reds and was 1-7 with a 6.68 ERA before being demoted to the bullpen by interim manager Jim Riggleman. Bailey balked at the demotion and found himself on the disabled list with a knee injury.

There were signs that maybe Bailey would be at least passable, putting up a 4.19 ERA in his first six starts. But in his second six starts, he had a 9.76 ERA.

He’s now in Louisville with the clock running out on his rehab assignment. An attempt to try him out of the bullpen didn’t take and he’ll have to start if he’s to play. The Reds still owe him roughly $40 million through next season, so no decision will be made hastily.

• The ghost of : The Reds were lauded three years ago for their return on Johnny Cueto, garnering a trio of left-handed pitchers in return from the Royals.

One of those three, John Lamb, was released and now is on the disabled list for the Angels. The other two are in Louisville – Cody Reed, who has made one start for the Reds and sports a 4.74 ERA in Triple-A and Brandon Finnegan, who was demoted to Louisville with the acquisition of Matt Harvey and then taken out of the rotation there and put into the bullpen.

• Sophomore slump: The one spot of the rotation that wasn’t supposed to be a question mark heading into the season was right- hander Luis Castillo, who had vaulted himself into future-ace talk after last season.

That’s been put on hold since the start of the season.

Castillo, 25, is 5-8 with a 5.49 ERA in 20 starts after going 3-7 with a. 3.12 ERA in 15 starts last year. His 19 home runs and 63 earned runs are the most in the National League.

The right-hander is still an elite talent and it’s hardly unusual for young pitchers to struggle after an initial period of success, but there are still some questions as to whether he can reach his potential.

The other two rookies in the rotation – Tyler Mahle and Sal Romano – have had their fair share of ups and downs as well, but neither had the expectations that were placed upon Castillo’s shoulders.

What went right

• Offensive firepower: In his housekeeping, Reds President of Baseball Operations Dick Williams brought in new voices to lead the pitchers, but kept hitting coach . It was a curious move at the time because the offense was struggling as badly as the pitching. But Williams kept Long and assistant hitting coach Tony Jaramillo and it appears to have been the right decision.

Entering the second half of the season, the Reds own the second-highest on-base percentage in baseball (.341). They’re also fourth in batting average (.260), seventh in OPS (.746), seventh in runs scored (461) and first in walks (376).

• A star is born: The talk of Tuesday’s All-Star Game was and his impending trade to the Dodgers. The 26-year- old /third baseman could be the most prized player in this season’s free-agent market.

But the Reds have their own shortstop-turned-third baseman in Suárez, who just turned 27 on Wednesday. Despite missing 16 games with a fractured right thumb, Suárez leads the National League in offensive WAR (3.7), is fifth in batting average (.312), fourth in on-base percentage (.399), third in (.574), third in OPS (.973), tied for eighth in home runs (19) and second in RBI (71).

Suárez is hitting .279/.379/.501 since of 2017 while Machado is hitting .279/.339/.510 in the same period.

Oh, and the Reds locked Suárez up with a seven-year, $68 million extension before the start of the season.

• Scooter keeps rolling: Many in the industry doubted whether Gennett could duplicate his breakout 2017. He hasn’t duplicated it, instead, he improved upon it.

Gennett entered the break leading the National League in batting average (.326) and has 16 home runs and 63 RBI.

A sore shoulder limited his power early in the season, but he hit two in his 23rd game of the season and is hitting .345/.392/.587 since.

• Peraza plan: The Reds’ brass has been bullish on José Peraza since before the three-way deal with the White Sox and Dodgers that brought Peraza, Scott Schebler and to Cincinnati and sent to Chicago.

Peraza showed promise coming in for an injured in 2016, but struggled when given the second base job out of spring last season.

He was given the starting shortstop spot this year before after Cozart departed via free agency.

After a slow start (sensing a trend?), Peraza looks like he could be a top-of-the-order threat. The 24-year-old is hitting .293/.330/.391 with 17 stolen bases with a solid defensive showing.

Peraza’s probably not going to be a power hitter (and leads the National League with 83 singles), but has shown some gap power. His 97 wRC+ through the first half would be the fifth-best mark by a Reds shortstop since the end of Barry Larkin’s tenure (Cozart’s 141 last season was by far the best, followed by Felipe Lopez’s 116 in 2005, Suárez’s 106 in 2015 and Alex González’s 99 in 2007.)

• Relief from the ‘pen: The Rockies spent $106 million to bring in relievers , Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw (all on three- year contracts) to overhaul their bullpen. The Cardinals signed to a one-year, $14-million deal to help its bullpen.

None of those relievers has been as effective as the duo signed by the Reds to bolster their bullpen, right-handers Jared Hughes and David Hernandez. Hughes and Hernandez were signed to two-year deals for $4.5 million and $5 million, respectively.

The two have provided stability in the bullpen along with production. Hughes has a 1.44 ERA in 43 appearances and Hernandez has a 1.87 ERA in 29 appearances.

Raisel Iglesias has been his usual dominant self and Amir Garrett, moved to the bullpen this spring, has looked at times like a future . He’s 0-1 with a 3.59 ERA in 45 appearances. Michael Lorenzen, after starting the season on the disabled list, has a 2.30 ERA in 21 appearances.

The team got 25 appearances from minor-league free-agent signing and flipped him to the Dodgers for a pitching prospect.

Since Price’s firing, the bullpen has lowered its ERA a full run, to 4.16.

• The Dark Knight Returns: Matt Harvey made more headlines off the field than on it before his trade to the Reds on May 8. He was designated for assignment by the Mets, refused that assignment and was traded to the Reds for Devin Mesoraco.

That night, Mesoraco joked that “I gained like 15, 20 wins coming over here, so that helps.”

The Mets were 18-15 when the trade was made and the Reds were 8-27. The Mets have gone 22-30 and the Reds 35-28 since that day. The Reds now have five more wins than Mesoraco’s Mets.

Harvey’s not responsible for all of that, but he has been a calming influence on the team’s rotation, taking the ball every five days. He’s 5-3 with a 3.64 ERA in 12 starts as a Red. His velocity has been up and his has improved.

• Riggleman stays the course: The Reds are 40-38 under Riggleman. That’s not all on him, but he’s been well-received both inside and outside the clubhouse.

Riggleman has been careful not to disparage his predecessor or even contradict him. He’s given credit to Price and even pointed out some of Price’s disadvantages in regard to injuries and rotation stability.

But make no mistake, Riggleman is his own manager. He’s been more aggressive in pitching changes and double switches. He’s used pinch-hitters frequently.

He also put on a refresher course on fundamentals each day before games in his first month and it has appeared to pay off.

Riggleman is still the interim manager and Williams has said the team still intends to do a full search for a manager after the season, but Riggleman has put on one hell of an audition.

• Outfield rotation: Riggleman has stuck with Price’s four-man outfield rotation, it’s just that those four have performed better for Riggleman than Price.

Before April 19, Billy Hamilton was hitting .172/.284/.241 and after April 19 he has hit .244/.317/.328. Adam Duvall hit .175/.221/.381 before the firing and .212/.303/.403 after. Rookie Jesse Winker was hitting .238/.407/.262 and since then, he’s hit .304/.403/.460. Since coming off the disabled list on April 20, Schebler’s hit .276/.350/.461. (Schebler returned to the disabled list on Wednesday with a shoulder injury.)

The rotation has had an added benefit of strengthening the team’s bench, both offensively and defensively.

Reds pinch-hitters are hitting .268/341/.415 with four home runs and 24 RBI this season.

What is next?

• To trade or not to trade? Let’s start here – Harvey will be traded. The Reds acquired him to trade him, gambling that they’d get more in return for him than they would for Mesoraco.

What will the return be? Probably not as much as Reds fans hope it will be or as little as Mets fans think it’ll be. If the team can get something around what it got in the Floro trade – a young player that the organization is high on, but not necessarily an immediate impact player – that could be seen as a success.

While trading Harvey is an easy decision, there are tougher ones – such as trading Gennett, Hamilton, Duvall and Iglesias.

The return on Hamilton and Duvall could be light, especially with Hamilton entering his third year of arbitration and Duvall having the kind of and RBI numbers that are rewarded in arbitration.

Gennett could bring back more, but with the Machado trade, the obvious buyer is no longer in the market for a second baseman. Gennett doesn’t have the positional flexibility to move around and with his shoulder issue, he’s limited to second base (or for an team).

With knocking on the door to be an everyday player, there is a replacement ready for 2019 while could step in and play every day for the rest of the 2018 season (or , Brandon Dixon or ).

• Rolen-like trade? The Reds were 45-56 in 2009 after a loss to the Padres on July 30 but then General Manager thought the team was one piece away from being ready to contend. So instead of selling at the deadline, he bought – for 2010, adding veteran third baseman Scott Rolen. It was like buying a swimsuit in August, it was on sale, but Jocketty knew he was going to be swimming in April.

That proved to be prophetic, as the Reds won the National League Central in 2010 and Rolen’s leadership and play at third base were credited as being the missing piece.

Is there a Scott Rolen on the market this year?

The biggest need for the Reds, if they feel they’re ready to contend, is a top-of-the-rotation starter with years remaining on team control. The Mets have a couple of those available, but the asking price that would start with any of the team’s top three prospects – Senzel, and – would likely be a non-starter.

• Robert Stephenson’s shot: Robert Stephenson was long the team’s No. 1 prospect and he’s shown flashes at the big-league level, but still remains an enigma.

Stephenson has pitched well in Triple-A this year. In his last 12 starts dating back to May 6, he’s 8-3 with a 2.73 ERA, 89 strikeouts and 27 walks over 69 1/3 innings pitched.

The Reds’ first-round pick in 2011, Stephenson is out of options after this season and will have to stick in the majors next season. He’ll get his chance in the big-league rotation at some point, but the question is how soon?

Bailey will get the first shot at the rotation when Harvey departs, but Stephenson has done what has been asked of him in Triple-A and needs a chance to prove himself in the big leagues.

• Rotation answers: It’s not just Stephenson and Bailey that have questions about their future in the rotation – all three of the team’s youngsters currently in the rotation (Mahle, Castillo, Romano) have to answer questions about their futures.

There’s also Rookie Davis, who is finally back making rehab starts in the minors, as well as the confounding Reed.

The Reds will likely look to the outside this offseason to help bolster the rotation, but they need to have a good idea of the stock on hand before moving forward.

• Who leads in 2019? Riggleman has made one heck of an audition tape, but expect the Reds to interview outside candidates for the manager job this offseason.

The last time the Reds interviewed multiple outside candidates was when hired after the 2000 season.

Riggleman could be a candidate in St. Louis, but the Reds job becomes more appealing to Riggleman and others the better they play the rest of the season.

The (not so) Great Escape: Reflections of the Reds Runner three years later By Justin Williams July 18, 2018

Justin Buchanan stood deathly still, holding his breath, as a police officer pounded on the metal door of the restroom in Smale Riverfront Park, along of the River.

Moments earlier, when he saw the officer approaching through the slits in the top of the stall, he texted his friends that he’d been made, and to let his mom know what happened. But just as Buchanan stepped forward to unlock the door and give himself up, the pounding stopped. He peeked through the slits again, just in time to see the officer quickly double back, hoping to have duped his suspect into a false sense of security. This time, when he started pounding again, Buchanan decided to wait it out. You’re going to have to bring a damn SWAT team, he thought to himself, because I’m not leaving.

Buchanan had reason to hide. He had just committed a crime. Across the street, in Great American Ball Park.

Reds fans, especially those in attendance that night, know it well. It was July 22, 2015, the second half of a day-night against the Cubs. With one out in the top of the eighth inning of a tie ball game, with more than 39,000 fans in attendance, a tall, skinny blonde kid dropped over the wall along the third base line and took off running across the outfield grass, his cell phone held out in his right hand and a smile plastered across his face.

Buchanan, a recent high school graduate from Noblesville, Indiana, was at his summer landscaping job earlier that day when a friend texted that he had $6 tickets to the Reds game that night. Buchanan is a Cardinals fan, but a baseball game sounded better than work, so he told his boss he wasn’t feeling well, went home, showered, and hopped in a car with his buddies for the two-hour drive to Cincinnati. On the way, a discussion about people who run on the field during games turned into a round of What Are The Odds? – essentially a more involved version of Truth or Dare? Buchanan lost the bet. The car erupted.

The logical thing, of course, would have been for Buchanan to immediately dismiss the idea altogether. But this was a 19-year-old kid, on the open road with his friends, the summer after his senior year of high school. Logic didn’t stand a chance.

“My first thought was absolutely not. But then I wondered what was the worst that could happen,” Buchanan said. “The common denominator was that everyone got caught. All of those dumb asses run in circles until they get tackled or Tased. I figured I just wouldn’t get caught. I’ll jump in, jump out, call it a day.”

Once they arrived at the park, Buchanan and his posse started casing the joint like an ill-fated remake of “Ocean’s Eleven.” One of his friends joked he should jump the center field wall.

“I figured I had seen people rob home runs, so I could do that,” said Buchanan, who was a pitcher for his high school baseball team. “Didn’t even Google how high it was.”

His friends stationed themselves in the right-field concourse to record video of it while Buchanan went to the restroom, a nervous wreck. When he returned, he pulled out his phone at the top of the stairs and started filming. He claims he wasn’t sure he would go through with it until he put his hand on the wall to lift himself over, “but then I just went for it,” he said. “And as soon as I hit the dirt, I got the biggest smile on my face. Absolutely no nerves. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.”

He galloped into the outfield, phone still recording, throwing his left arm in the air as the stadium roared. After a feeble attempt to get a high five from center fielder Billy Hamilton (who declined), Buchanan beelined for the fence, tossed his phone onto the grassy area beyond the center field wall, scaled it—escaping a nearby security guard who made a feeble attempt of his own – retrieved his phone, hopped onto the concourse, swerved around an usher, then speed-walked out of Gate F and onto Mehring Way.

“After that I started walking a lot, trying to act cool,” Buchanan said. “Didn’t work. My anxiety was through the roof.”

His friends were supposed to leave immediately and meet him at the car, but instead went back to their seats, nervous they’d look suspicious. That’s when Buchanan, assuming security was hot on his tail, wound up in that stall in the park, hiding in the shadows while a police officer waited just outside.

That gamble paid off, too. After a few more minutes, the officer finally relented and walked away. In retrospect, Buchanan doubts the cop had actually pegged him as the “Reds runner,” but rather some creep holing up in a public restroom. Buchanan quickly sneaked out and headed for the parking lot across the street. He bumped into a couple of girls who had been at the game, recognized him and let him hang out in the back seat of their car while he waited for the game to end.

“They turned the A/C on for me because I was dripping sweat,” Buchanan remembered.

When his friends finally left, he text them where he was. They pulled up, Buchanan hopped in, and they headed west.

“We were gone,” Buchanan said. “That easy.”

He posted the video on Twitter on the ride back to Noblesville.

Hope Buchanan likes to joke that her son doesn’t get in trouble often, but when he does, he really goes for it.

That was the case when Justin was 17 and got pulled over – in his mom’s car – for driving 103 mph in a 45 mph zone. “I remember when we got home, she and I sat in the driveway and had a deep talk about me driving fast,” he said.

It was also the case when Hope received a phone call from a Noblesville detective on July 23, 2015. The night before, Justin texted her that he lost a bet and had to run across the field at the Reds game. She, of course, implored him not to.

“I got this – that’s his catchphrase,” Hope said. “Anytime I’ve ever told him he’s doing something he shouldn’t be doing, or that I’m worried about anything – school, money, jobs, whatever – he just says, Mom, I got this.”

The two of them have always been close. Justin’s parents split up when he was 2 years old, and he spent almost all of his childhood being raised by his mother. So Hope was plenty familiar with this side of her son: the unabashed confidence and foolishness served with a side of his winning smile and tendency to charm his way out of any situation. Justin was the type of kid who would TP houses and play ding-dong ditch with his friends when he was younger, move lawn ornaments around from one yard to another. It was always pretty harmless stuff, but it wasn’t always smart.

Knowing this, Hope tried to dissuade him by assuring that if he got busted and she had to come bail him out, she was using the money he had been saving to buy a car. Then she went to bed, hoping he would make the right decision.

“I thought he would think about it really long and hard and then he would decide that he didn’t want to go to jail. But I tend to underestimate his bravado,” Hope said. “The next day, he showed me the video. And I was just in awe, because he does absolutely idiotic stuff, but he always seems to just slide right out of it.”

He almost did. The problem was that he posted the video to his personal, public Twitter account. Once it went viral, it became relatively easy for the police to track him down. Or rather, track his mom down.

The local detective who called informed Hope that the Cincinnati Police had a bench warrant out for Justin. They weren’t going to drive to Noblesville and bang down his door, but he basically had two options: turn himself in, or leave an open warrant on his record and avoid driving or jaywalking or anything of that nature, anywhere in Ohio, for the rest of his life.

“So I called him and told him,” Hope said. “He says I was crying – I don’t remember that, but I might have been. Here’s my 19- year-old, getting ready to go to college and off into the world, and he’s starting with a bench warrant.”

After taking a few hours to think about it, Justin borrowed his mom’s car and drove to the Cincinnati Police Department’s Central Business Headquarters, where he was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for trespassing on a place of public amusement. He says the officer who booked him was the same one who had chased after him on the field the night before, watching helplessly from the warning track as Buchanan climbed the wall and evaded his grasp. His co-workers had plastered photographs of the incident all over his door.

In his office at Great American Ball Park, Dick Williams, the Reds president of baseball operations, has a framed ticket stub from Game 6 of the 1990 National League Championship Series, when the Reds clinched a trip to the with a 2-1 over the Pirates at . Framed alongside it is the front page of the next day’s Cincinnati Post, and a citation from the Cincinnati Police for running on the field.

“There were a lot less people out there than I thought there were going to be,” Williams chuckled.

Williams, who was also 19 at the time, was in the stands with his aunt and her date, also along the third base line. After the Reds took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, his aunt’s date suggested that they rush the field if the home team clinched. Williams, already buzzing with excitement, was all-in. He had convinced himself it would be one of those scenes where everyone in the stadium would empty onto the Astroturf like a college football crowd at homecoming. So when struck out Don Slaught to end the game, Williams hopped over the wall and dropped onto the field. His aunt and her date chickened out.

“They didn’t do it, but I hit the ground and started running for the mound, which is where everyone was going,” he said. “The security guards were kind of by the base lines, facing the crowd, so I did a couple moves and went right between them, got to the mound and jumped in the dog pile. And there were other fans out there, but I realized pretty quick that there weren’t a whole lot.”

Williams pulled himself from the pile and started heading back toward his seats, at which point security directed him to the front of the Reds with the rest of those who rushed the field. Half were drunk and belligerent; the rest, much like Williams, were simply excited and celebratory. They waited there about an hour, at which point Williams was written a misdemeanor trespassing citation and released. He found a pay phone and called home, waking his parents to tell them he got arrested at the stadium.

“Needless to say, that didn’t go over well,” he recalled.

The Williams family had previously held ownership stake in the Reds, but sold out to a few years prior. When his father phoned Schott the next day to see if she could help out in any way, Williams recalled her responding, “‘Well honey, that’s the Cincinnati Police. I can’t do anything.’”

Fortunately for Williams, his judge had a sense of humor about it, and agreed to expunge his record in return for a few days of community service. He was actually assigned to complete his hours at the same place Pete Rose was sent for committing tax evasion. Twenty-five years later, Williams was working as the Reds vice president and assistant general manager when a 19-year- old kid dropped onto the field along the third base line.

“I don’t consider mine the same thing as what this Buchanan kid did. Mine wasn’t in the middle of the game or anything like that,” said Williams, who also admits that if he could do it over again, he wouldn’t. “But every once in a while, fans will ask if I grew up a Reds fan, and I’ll say, Yeah, this will show you how big of a fan I was.”

Buchanan’s story isn’t remembered quite as fondly around the halls of GABP. Within the Reds locker room, it’s hardly remembered at all. There are only a handful of players on the current roster who were with the team in 2015. One is Billy Hamilton, who does remember rebuffing the high five, but can’t recall if anything was said between the two of them. (In the video, you can hear someone say “What’s up big dog?”, but it’s hard to tell if it was uttered by Buchanan or Hamilton.)

“I just got out of the way and let him do what he wanted to do, as long as he didn’t mess with me,” said Hamilton, who, even after years of robbing homers off that center field wall, wasn’t shocked when Buchanan managed to clear it. “It’s amazing what people can do when you’re running with a bunch of fear and know people are chasing you.”

Tucker Barnhart caught the first half of the double-header, but was on the bench for the . He has only a vague memory of the event, but was even less impressed than Hamilton.

“I mean, you don’t want to give the guy credit for hopping on the field and acting like a dumbass,” he said. “I wish he woulda fell.”

“This is the bad part,” Buchanan said.

He’s recounting the entire sordid tale for the umpteenth time over lunch at a local burger joint in downtown Indianapolis, just up the street from the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis campus where he attends the Kelley School of Business. He has about a year-and-a-half left until he earns his degree in marketing, and hopes to pursue a career in sales after that.

Now 22 and nearly three years removed from the day he ran in and out of Great American Ball Park and the lives of 39,000 Reds fans, Buchanan claims that he knew full well posting the video on Twitter would make it possible for police to identify him, and that if he hadn’t, he likely would have gotten away with it. He just didn’t think anyone would care.

“My theory was that since I lived in Indiana, they wouldn’t come looking for me,” he said. “In my mind, it wasn’t that serious. I didn’t hurt anybody. I didn’t run out there with any malicious intent. I ran on, ran off – I was on the field for like 15 seconds. Not a big delay in baseball. It was a double-header, the game was boring anyway. But ultimately (posting it) is what caught me.”

Buchanan was given a year of probation and 100 hours of community service, along with a one-year ban from Great American Ball Park. (He’s never been sure how exactly the ban would have been enforced, but he hasn’t been back since.)

The worst part was driving to his court appearances. In the fall of 2015 he started his freshman year at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, which was a three-hour drive to Cincinnati, plus an hour time difference. Buchanan had to leave his dorm room by 4 a.m. to make it to the courthouse by 8 a.m., and there were a couple instances when his appearances were stayed and rescheduled – meaning he drove all that way for nothing. The judge also required he complete his community service in Cincinnati with the Reds Community Fund, as opposed to somewhere closer to home. And his mom was right – between court fees, lawyer fees, and gas money, he blew through every penny he had saved up to buy a car.

“I did think it was slightly unrealistic for a college kid with a time change to do 100 hours of community service there, but I understand why the Reds were so adamant about it,” Hope said. “They absolutely needed to make an example of him, because he actually got away. And had he not Tweeted it, he could have totally gotten away with it. But he needed his 15 minutes of fame.”

He certainly got it. His Twitter profile blew up. He was all over YouTube and various websites. He made SportsCenter and Pardon The Interruption. When he went to USI for his freshman orientation, the school paper ran an article about him. He still has a copy of it pinned on the wall of his bedroom in Noblesville, right next to a giant photo of him hopping the fence that he blew up into a poster, Billy Hamilton looking on from the foreground, hands on hips.

But in addition to the early morning drives on Interstate 74, Buchanan also had to deal with the backlash to his newfound fame – online commenters deriding him as a spoiled, entitled brat, newspaper columns invoking Monica Seles. It all felt a little extreme to him, considering the situation. He wasn’t drunk. He didn’t hurt anyone. He was in and out in 15 seconds. The Reds and , however, didn’t want to encourage any copycats, especially someone who might not be as harmless.

The tweets and Facebook comments eventually died down, and Buchanan finished out his freshman year, waiting until the following summer to start chipping away at those 100 hours. He would drive to Cincinnati on weekends and put in eight- to 10-hour days, usually on baseball fields the Reds Community Fund was renovating, chugging coffee each leg of the drive. After a few weeks, he successfully appealed to have his remaining service time transferred to Noblesville, where Buchanan worked the field and concession stand of his childhood baseball facility. It wasn’t exactly sliding through unscathed, as he was accustomed to, but “all in all, it wasn’t too bad,” he says now.

For a solid year after it took place, and much longer than any of the online attention lasted, Buchanan would regularly get noticed at restaurants and stores. That kind of stuff happens less and less. His friends and family still joke about it, he still gets prodded to tell the story at parties, and he hasn’t had it expunged from his record yet, so he still has to list the misdemeanor on job applications. (When employers ask about it, he usually just shows them the video.) But for the most part, it’s a nonexistent factor in his day-to- day life.

And even though he was furious with himself every time he had to wake up at dawn and drive to Cincinnati, he claims he doesn’t regret it, either. His sophomore year of college, after he transferred to IUPUI, he took a communications class where everyone had to write a speech about a moment that changed their lives.

“A lot of people talked about getting a dog or winning a championship – which is a big deal for some people. I wrote mine about running on the field,” Buchanan said. “At the end of the speech, I made sure to say that I wasn’t telling people to go run across a field, but I did say that it was worth it take risks. Yeah, I had to deal with some stuff for a year, but now I have this story I can tell. I know it’s a little extreme, but that was my biggest takeaway from the whole thing – just go for it.”

Even his mom can joke about it now.

“I guess, to put it in mom terms, I was disappointed that he put it out there in the public and got caught,” Hope said. “But it’s a thing he did. It’s something that is totally him. I’m proud of him for how he reacted afterward. I’m not necessarily proud of the act. But I think he checked something off of his bucket list, and I’m OK with that.”

Buchanan doesn’t have much interest in ever coming back to Cincinnati, but he wouldn’t mind seeing another game at Great American at some point. And while he’s adamant that he’ll never run across a field again, he says that if he’s ever faced with a similarly risky situation – even one with potential legal consequences, as long as no one could get hurt – he will likely go for it. He’s probably even more inclined to.

He finally saved up enough money to get a car of his own, too – a sleek 2004 Infiniti G35.

“It’s my baby,” he said, flashing a winning smile. “I still drive fast.” TRANSACTIONS 07/18/18 sent RHP on a rehab assignment to AZL Royals. optioned 2B Breyvic Valera to . signed free agent OF Nick Torres to a minor league contract. sent RHP Jim Johnson on a rehab assignment to . signed free agent RHP Trevor Frank to a minor league contract. optioned RHP James Norwood to . Chicago Cubs activated RHP from the 10-day disabled list. placed C on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to July 15, 2018. Left hamstring strain. Tampa Bay Rays sent RHP Ryan Weber outright to . Tampa Bay Rays activated LHP Jose Alvarado. Kansas City Royals released CF Abraham Almonte. sent outright to . optioned CF Charlie Tilson to Charlotte Knights. Braves sent LHP Max Fried on a rehab assignment to Gwinnett Stripers. sent LHP Ryan Carpenter on a rehab assignment to Lakeland Flying Tigers. sent RHP on a rehab assignment to Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Milwaukee Brewers sent C Manny Pina on a rehab assignment to Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. St. Louis Cardinals placed RHP Miles Mikolas on the paternity list. St. Louis Cardinals recalled RHP from Memphis Redbirds. Cincinnati Reds placed RF Scott Schebler on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to July 15, 2018. Sprained AC joint in right shoulder. Kansas City Royals sent LHP Eric Skoglund on a rehab assignment to AZL Royals. sent RHP on a rehab assignment to Syracuse Chiefs. Baltimore Orioles traded SS Manny Machado to for 2B Breyvic Valera, RHP Dean Kremer, 3B Rylan Bannon, RF Yusniel Diaz and RHP .