Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Reds are painful to watch at the plate right now. In the last 17 games, the Reds have averaged 2.4 runs per game. Monday night, August 4, marked the 25th time overall this season the Reds have scored one run or less. 

The Reds roll into the All-Star break just 1.5 games back of first-place Milwaukee and seven games above the .500 mark. Two weeks ago, the Reds were flirting with .500 and anywhere from seven-to-eight games back of first.

A lot has changed in so little time. The Reds went 6-2 last week alone. 

Ninth in an 11-part series examining the vagaries of awards voting.

On Tuesday, Reds fans look to the standings and finally see a winning baseball team. It took 70-plus games, but there is no denying the difference Reds fans have witnessed since the team got healthy. 

Cincinnati Reds fans will have now seen 30 percent of this list in live action following the debut of Carlos Contreras last Saturday. The young right-hander had a great outing in a low-stress situation.

Billy Hamilton has been scorching hot, and Tucker Barnhart continues to climb his way back up in batting average, in case he's ever needed again.

The rest have had mixed results. 

After seven long weeks atop the Reds player power rankings, Johnny Cueto was officially lifted from the throne following a disastrous outing against the Washington Nationals. It was an odd sequence of events; the first two runs to cross the plate were unearned. By that time, Cueto had already been laboring, working nearly every full.

The reason why the Reds are three games below .500 and six games back of the first place Milwaukee Brewers has little to do with offense. According to the numbers, the Reds are just under par when it comes to National League offenses.

The Reds took a bite out of a 7.5-game deficit by taking three of four from the first-place Brewers. Last week, we witnessed a healthy shot of offense while getting the same consistent pitching we've come to expect from this team. Here are the top 10 Reds from last week:

1. Johnny Cueto (last week No.1)

2013 ended with another disappointing first-round loss for the Cincinnati Reds. It led to the firing of Dusty Baker. Outside the big bats of Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, which players will be instrumental to the Reds' advancing deeper in the postseason? 

Ranking Criteria

To rank the players, I used past statistics as well as potential upside. A player who has been a consistent producer could be behind a player who could be a game changer for the Reds for that reason.

Despite news that Billy Hamilton—otherwise known as the second coming of Billy Hamilton—is invited to the Reds' Spring Training activities i