C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

The Blog Above Replacement a daily look at the Reds, their minor leagues and whatever else is on the mind of Enquirer Reds beat writers, C. TrentRosecrans and Zach Buchanan.

Pete Rose’s No. 14 will be the 10th number retired by the Reds and the eighth player to have his number retired. So, who should be next?

If you ask the man in charge of handing out jersey numbers, Rick Stowe, he’ll likely tell you nobody. With 11 numbers out of circulation (including No. 42, which is retired across baseball), we saw a jersey number crush last year, with some high numbers being handed out by the end of the season.

But what fun is that answer?

So, who are the best Reds without their number retired?

My gut goes to No. 44, because when I was a kid, I wasn’t a Reds fan, but I loved Eric Davis. That number has been worn by some pretty good players since then — Adam Dunn, Mike Leake and now Cody Reed. It almost seems cooler to be a legacy number, rather than a retired number, one that is passed down from great player to player.

There are also the Griffey numbers, 30 and 3, with the former worn by father and son, but the latter only worn for the final seasons of Junior’s career. Neither one of those seem to work for a retired number, Ken Griffey Jr.’s number 24 is retired in Seattle, as it should be, but not here. When I think of Griffey, despite covering him in 30 and 3, it’s 24.

So, instead of going on the gut (even though, to me, gut is a big part of this), I went to the numbers.

I’m using FanGraphs WAR just because I find their search tool easier to use, not because I prefer one WAR to the other. So, anyway, sorting the players of the uniform number era (1932-to-present) by WAR, of the top 10 players for the Reds in those years, seven have their number retired already (including Rose, who leads the list). The top six — Rose, Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez have their numbers retired already.

That brings us to No. 7 — or for this list, No. 28, Vada Pinson. Pinson has a 42.8 fWAR in 11 years with the Reds from 1958 to 1968 (47.7 bWAR). Pinson’s last year with the Reds was 1968 and in 1969 Bobby Tolan wore it. It has been worn by 21 players since Pinson, and it has been worn by a Reds player every year since but two — 1975 and 1976. (I’d suggest a curse if Randy Myers didn’t wear it in 1990).

The player with the eighth-highest fWAR since 1930 for the Reds is currently wearing it and may be the best chance for the next retired number, Joey Votto. No Reds player has worn No. 19 more than Votto. In fact, only Tommy Helms has worn it for more than three years.

Using fWAR, George Foster is next on the list. His No. 15 is currently unused, last belonging to Jordan Pacheco. Since Foster wore it, it was most notably worn by Glenn Braggs (it was also Barry Larkin’s first number).

Tenth on the list is Dave Concepcion, but his number 13 is already retired. Brandon Phillips is 11th on the list — 30.6 fWAR, just above Lonny Frey, Frank McCormick and Davis.

• ICYMI: This is one of those things that may interest only me — but I asked Pete Rose why he wore No. 14 and then asked several other Reds why they wore the number they do. The Billy Hamilton story may be my favorite — check out what Dusty Baker told him.

MINOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP

Triple-A: Louisville 7, Rochester 4: Robert Stephenson struck out eight over six innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks. DH Steve Selsky homered and drove in four, while SS Carlos Triunfel was 3 for 5. [Box]

Double-A: Tennessee 3, Pensacola 0: Jackson Stephens gave up three runs on seven hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings. The Blue Wahoos managed just three hits in the game, one each from the top three in the order, SS Alex Blandino, CF Jeff Gelalich and LF Phillip Ervin. [Box]

Check out this from Friday, when Rookie Davis crushed his first professional homer. Davis was a two-way prospect in high school and he flashes his power here.

Video Highlights & Clips - MiLB | Pensacola's Davis hits homer - Video | MiLB.com Multimedia | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

High-A: Clearwater 5, Daytona 4, 10 innings: RHP Keury Mella allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. SS Blake Trahan and LF Angelo Gumbs were both 3 for 5. [Box]

Low-A: South Bend 11, Dayton 1: RHP Tanner Rainey struck out nine in four innings, but also gave up 10 hits and six runs. RF Reydel Medina was 2 for 4. [Box]

Rookie: Billings 4, Missoula 3: RHP Jordan Ramsey allowed just one hit and two walks in his four innings and struck out six. LF Mitch Piatnik was 2 for 5 with an RBI. [Box]

THE ROTATION

1. Jim Hickman died this weekend at age 79. Hickman was a long-time member of the Reds’ player development staff. He was also the All-Star who drove in Pete Rose for the famous play at the plate with Ray Fosse. [The Tennessean]

2. The best players who don’t have their numbers retired. [SI.com]

3. A really interesting story about former big-league pitcher Byron McLaughlin and his post-playing career importing counterfeit Reeboks. [The Hardball Times]

4. The NBA Finals recreated in Legos. Nice job Bleacher Report

5. I want a “Game of Jones” for the finale. [Vulture.com]