Reddick ready to rebound
Josh Reddick says his World Series ring is because of his teammates — and he would like to return the favor
BRIAN T. SMITH
On any other team, it would be difficult to lose sight of Josh Reddick.
King of the woos. Veteran right fielder with a cannon for a right arm and a smooth bat that hit .314 last season. A 31-year-old man who proudly wears SpiderMan shirts beneath his Major League Baseball uniform. And then there was that American flag Speedo that will forever be burned into our visual memories.
But on the defending world champion Astros?
Reddick’s name sometimes gets lost among the stars.
Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel. George Springer, Alex Bregman, Gerrit Cole, Lance McCullers Jr. and all the other characters on a team loaded with talent, charisma and … characters.
Which means that on the 2018 Astros, Reddick blends right in.
“He’s a big personality on a fun team and he really does a lot of things that get unnoticed, mostly in the style of play categories,” manager A.J. Hinch recently said from sunny West Palm Beach, Fla. “He demands quite a bit out of the team, which is nice.”
Reddick is valued, respected and trusted. The 10-year veteran put up career highs in OPS (.847), doubles (34) and hits (150) in 2017, while adding 77 runs, 82 RBI and 13 home runs in just 477 at-bats. And after being signed to a four-year, $52 million contract the offseason before the Astros’ World Series run, the eccentric but down-to-earth outfielder quickly established himself as a key clubhouse and on-field presence.
By the time that the second year of Reddick in orange and blue rolled around, a pro athlete on his fourth team since 2011 clearly fit in with the rest of the Astros and was back at home at the Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
“It’s always good to come back to spring training and see all your brothers from last year, especially for us, being such a tight-knit family,” Reddick said. “It feels like you haven’t missed a beat with these guys. … This team’s always a good time and knows how to not only have fun, but make the game fun at the same time. You look around and everybody’s all smiles all day in every drill and it makes the day go by a lot better.”
Of course, Reddick wants to be better and finish stronger in 2018. His regular-season numbers rivaled 2012 with Oakland as the best of his career, and he hit .375 (6-for-16) with three runs and two RBI during the Astros’ American League Division Series victory against the Boston Red Sox, another of Reddick’s former teams.
Hit the wall against Yankees
But while the Astros continued to soar during the AL Championship Series and World Series, Reddick hit a wall. He was just 5-for-49 with 11 strikeouts in the ALCS and Fall Classic, which left Reddick saying this a few months after the Astros won it all for the first time in franchise history.
“I’m getting a ring because of my teammates,” Reddick said. “I didn’t really help a whole lot in the World Series.”
Reminded of how critical he was to a 101-win team from April through early October in 2017, Reddick still didn’t fully let himself off the hook.
“I’m not saying I didn’t help,” he said. “I just didn’t help at that time.” Injuries? “It was weird. The last week (in the regular season), I didn’t play because of the back spasms. And that was not an issue — that didn’t bother me at all in the playoffs,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was in pain. Because I came back after that week and did really well in the Boston series. The Yankees series, I think it’s all mental, because I never do well against the Yankees, anyway, especially at Yankee Stadium.”
One of the Astros’ most consistent names simply tried to do too much by himself on baseball’s biggest stage.
“I’d been to the Division Series and the Championship Series, and that was all gravy, but I think the World Series just got to me,” Reddick said. “There was so much stuff going on that I think I just let it get to me a little bit too much and maybe try too hard. I had some great swings that series; I had some bad swings, as well.”
Reddick’s honesty is a reminder of just how well everything ended up for the 2017 Astros. Verlander was 0-1 in the World Series. Closer Ken Giles allowed five earned runs in 12⁄3 innings. Altuve hit .194 (6-for-31). None of it ultimately held back the Astros, though, as Charlie Morton, Brad Peacock and Evan Gattis were among the other names to step up. The overall team was enough in the end.
For Reddick, each stage of the postseason has represented a personal learning curve. During the 2012 ALDS against Verlander’s Tigers, Reddick went 2-for-17 with 10 Ks as he went through his first playoff run with Oakland.
“The next year, I did a little better,” Reddick said. “So it seems like every year I get in the first stage and it’s kind of like, ‘OK, you’re going to stink now. But the next time you go, you’re going to do a lot better.’ ”
‘A constant presence’
For Hinch’s Astros, a brief dive during two playoff rounds doesn’t erase Reddick’s seasonlong impact. Now it’s new season, clean slate.
“When you look at any twoor three-week small sample size from anybody, you’re going to find that you can find a little bit of a struggle in everyone — it’s a long year,” Hinch said. “But I think the one thing that Reddick brings that he doesn’t get credit for is a constant presence, a style of play, a very attractive personality in the clubhouse, to where he’s a big part of what we do. So I expect him to inch forward and continue getting better in certain ways. I hope he continues his handling of lefthanded pitching the way he did last year. We’ll move him around the outfield like we did. And he’s going to hit anywhere from second to deep in the order when we need him.”
To return to the World Series and hoist another trophy in 2018, the Astros will need the 2017 regular-season Reddick again. And if they do make it as far this season as they did last year, one of the club’s mostrespected names already has a vision of how his second Fall Classic will end up.
“This year I’m looking at World Series MVP,” a smiling Reddick said.