Reds’ Hamilton wants to lead off

ATLANTA — Next stop, leadoff spot?

That’s what Billy Hamilton has in mind. Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman does as well.

Scott Schebler was scheduled to hit leadoff for the 13th time Monday against the Atlanta Braves.

“I told Scheb, ‘I love you to death, but I want my spot back,’” Hamilton said.

“Ideally, we’ll get Billy back to that spot,” Riggleman said. “I certainly don’t see an urgency to do that, but in a perfect world he’s hitting up there and going to the plate four and five times a night instead of three or four times because he has a real propensity to score runs.

“When he gets on, he scores.”

Hamilton’s return to the leadoff spot won’t happen until Schebler cools off. Schebler was hitting .339 with a .397 on-base percentage in the No. 1 spot in the order entering Monday.

Hamilton has been hot as well. He took a seven-game hitting streak into Monday’s game. He was hitting .440 with four stolen bases during the streak. Hamilton’s on-base percentage is .300. The National League average is .317. Riggleman wants Hamilton above that before re-installing him as the leadoff hitter.

“Earlier in the year, if he gets up around .320, that’s what we want,” Riggleman said. “He’s moving in that direction. He does so many things for us. He’s a high-energy guy. His teammates rally around him.

“He’s a fun guy out there for teammates. We want his energy. It’s not just if he swings the bat well; we want him out there. Period.”

Said Hamilton: “It’s not even about hitting. It’s about having great at-bats. I know I can hit. I feel like have a chance.” The Reds have hit and pitched well during their sevengame winning streak. But they’ve also made all the plays.

Riggleman pointed out the Adam Duvallto-Jose Peraza relay that nailed the Cubs’ Albert Almora Jr. at home Sunday.

“It was the second time in this winning streak that we’ve thrown out a runner at home on a relay,” Riggleman said. “Really good throw from the outfielder, really good throw from (shortstop) Peraza. Just good fundamental baseball.

“We’ve played really clean baseball. We haven’t had that where we said, ‘that was an embarrassment. That was sloppy.’”