# 1994 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1994 Cincinnati Reds season was the 125th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 25th and 24th full season at Riverfront Stadium. The team moved to the new National League Central in the 1994 season. They were leading the division by a half game before a strike ended the 1994 Major League Baseball season in mid-August.

## Offseason

* November 2, 1993: Dan Wilson and Bobby Ayala were traded by the Reds to the Seattle Mariners for Bret Boone and Erik Hanson.
* November 4, 1993: Jerome Walton was signed as a free agent by the Reds.
* November 23, 1993: Steve Lake was signed as a free agent by the Reds.
* November 24, 1993: Casey Candaele was signed as a free agent by the Reds.
* March 8, 1994: Tony Fernández was signed as a free agent by the Reds.

## Regular season

For the first time, the Opening Day game was moved to Sunday night as part of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Up to that point, traditionally Opening Day was held on a Monday, with the Reds customarily hosting the first game of the afternoon. The move was met with some controversy, as many fans and traditionalists, including Reds owner Marge Schott, were not happy about the Sunday night game, especially since it was also Easter Sunday. Many tickets for the Sunday night game went unsold, and the team elected to wait until Monday afternoon's game for the traditional Opening Day pageantry and festivities. A sparse crowd of only 32,803 braved frigid weather Sunday night April 3 to watch the Reds lose 6–4 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
For Game 2 on Monday April 4, dubbed by most in attendance the "traditional" opening day, a sold out, standing room only crowd of 55,093 arrived at Riverfront Stadium, shrugging off the previous night's game. The pomp and ceremony, including the traditional Findlay Market parade was held under sunny skies. Kevin Mitchell hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game 5–4.
By Friday, August 12, the Reds had compiled a 66-48 record through 114 games (although they had actually played 115 games, since their April 6 game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Riverfront Stadium ended tied 8–8 after the top of the 6th inning due to poor weather). They were leading the NL Central Division by just half a game over the Houston Astros. Prior to the strike, they had scored 609 runs (5.30 per game) and had allowed 490 runs (4.26 per game).

### Game log

1994 Regular Season Game Log (66-48-1) (Home: 37-22-1; Road: 29-26) :
April (15-7-1) (Home: 10-2-1; Road: 5-5)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordReport
1April 3Cardinals
2April 4Cardinals
3April 6Cardinals
4April 8Phillies
5April 9Phillies
6April 10Phillies
7April 11@ Expos9-4 (11 inn.)Carrasco (3-0)Heredia (0-1)12,5265-1-1Boxscore
8April 12@ Expos7-1Pugh (1-0)Boucher (0-1)12,4666-1-1Boxscore
9April 13@ Expos2-3Wetteland (1-1)McElroy (0-1)14,0726-2-1Boxscore
10April 15@ Phillies
11April 16@ Phillies
12April 17@ Phillies
13April 19Pirates
14April 20Pirates
15April 22Marlins
16April 23Marlins
17April 24Marlins
18April 25Cubs
19April 26Cubs
20April 27@ Pirates
21April 28@ Pirates
22April 29@ Marlins
23April 30@ Marlins :
May (14-15) (Home: 7-5; Road: 7-10)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordReport
24May 1@ Marlins
25May 2@ Cubs
26May 3@ Cubs
27May 4@ Cubs
28May 5Astros
29May 6Astros
30May 7Astros
31May 8Astros
32May 9@ Padres
33May 10@ Padres
34May 11@ Padres
35May 13@ Giants
36May 14@ Giants
37May 15@ Giants
38May 17Braves
39May 18Braves
40May 19Braves
41May 20Dodgers
42May 21Dodgers
43May 22Dodgers
44May 23@ Rockies
45May 24@ Rockies
46May 25@ Rockies
47May 26@ Rockies
48May 27@ Mets
49May 28@ Mets
50May 29@ Mets
51May 30Expos7-3Rijo (3-3)Hill (8-3)27,87528-22-1Boxscore
52May 31Expos5-4 (13 inn.)Schourek (3-0)Shaw (2-2)25,04629-22-1Boxscore :
June (15-11) (Home: 10-4; Road: 5-7)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordReport
53June 1Expos9-10Scott (3-2)Carrasco (3-2)Martínez (1)23,65329-23-1Boxscore
54June 3Mets
55June 4Mets
56June 5Mets
57June 7@ Cardinals
58June 8@ Cardinals
59June 9Rockies
60June 10Rockies
61June 11Rockies
62June 12Rockies
63June 13@ Dodgers
64June 14@ Dodgers
65June 15@ Dodgers
66June 17@ Braves
67June 18@ Braves
68June 19@ Braves
69June 21Giants
70June 22Giants
71June 23Giants
72June 24Padres
73June 25Padres
74June 26Padres
75June 27@ Astros
76June 28@ Astros
77June 29@ Astros
78June 30@ Pirates :
July (17-10) (Home: 8-6; Road: 9-4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordReport
79July 1@ Pirates
80July 2@ Pirates
81July 3@ Pirates
82July 4@ Marlins
83July 5@ Marlins
84July 6@ Marlins
85July 7Pirates
86July 8Pirates
87July 9Pirates
88July 10Pirates
All-Star Break: NL def. AL at Three Rivers Stadium, 8–7 (10)
89July 14Cubs
90July 15Cubs
91July 16Cubs
92July 17Cubs
93July 18Marlins
94July 19Marlins
95July 20Marlins
96July 22@ Cubs
97July 23@ Cubs
98July 24@ Cubs
99July 25Astros
100July 26Astros
101July 27Astros
102July 28@ Padres
103July 29@ Padres
104July 30@ Padres
105July 31@ Padres :
August (5-5) (Home: 2-5; Road: 3-0)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordReport
106August 1@ Giants
107August 2@ Giants
108August 3@ Giants
109August 5Braves
110August 6Braves
111August 7Braves
112August 8Braves
113August 9Dodgers
114August 10Dodgers
115August 11Dodgers :
Legend :
| Reds win | Reds loss | All-Star Game | Game postponed |

### Season standings

vteNL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 48 | .579 | — | 37‍–‍22 | 29‍–‍26 |
| Houston Astros | 66 | 49 | .574 | ½ | 37‍–‍22 | 29‍–‍27 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 61 | .465 | 13 | 32‍–‍29 | 21‍–‍32 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 53 | 61 | .465 | 13 | 23‍–‍33 | 30‍–‍28 |
| Chicago Cubs | 49 | 64 | .434 | 16½ | 20‍–‍39 | 29‍–‍25 |
vteDivision leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| Montreal Expos | 74 | 40 | .649 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 48 | .579 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 58 | 56 | .509 |
| Wild Card team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Atlanta Braves | 68 | 46 | 0.597 | — |
| Houston Astros | 66 | 49 | 0.574 | 21⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 55 | 58 | 0.487 | 121⁄2 |
| San Francisco Giants | 55 | 60 | 0.478 | 131⁄2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 54 | 61 | 0.470 | 141⁄2 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 53 | 61 | 0.465 | 15 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 61 | 0.465 | 15 |
| Colorado Rockies | 53 | 64 | 0.453 | 161⁄2 |
| Florida Marlins | 51 | 64 | 0.444 | 171⁄2 |
| Chicago Cubs | 49 | 64 | 0.434 | 181⁄2 |
| San Diego Padres | 47 | 70 | 0.402 | 221⁄2 |

### Record vs. opponents

1994 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–2 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 8–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 3–9 | 6–1 | 5–1 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 2–4 | — | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–5 | 4–8 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 1–6 | 5–5 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 5–5 |
| Cincinnati | 5–5 | 7–5 | — | 4–4 | 7–5 | 4–6 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 9–3 | 8–2 | 7–2 | 2–2–1 |
| Colorado | 2–8 | 6–6 | 4–4 | — | 3–9 | 5–5 | 4–6 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 2–3 | 5–5 | 3–7 | 8–4 |
| Florida | 4–8 | 5–4 | 5–7 | 9–3 | — | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–7 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 1–6 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 3–7 |
| Houston | 3–3 | 8–4 | 6–4 | 5–5 | 4–2 | — | 1–8 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 8–4 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 8–4 |
| Los Angeles | 0–6 | 3–3 | 6–3 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 8–1 | — | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–3 | 6–4 | 5–5 | 2–4 |
| Montreal | 5–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 7–2 | 4–2 | 9–3 | — | 4–3 | 5–4 | 8–2 | 12–0 | 5–7 | 7–3 |
| New York | 4–5 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 4–6 | 3–3 | 6–6 | 3–4 | — | 4–6 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–3 |
| Philadelphia | 3-6 | 6–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 6–4 | 1–5 | 5–7 | 4–5 | 6–4 | — | 5–4 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–3 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–3 | 5–5 | 3–9 | 3–2 | 6–1 | 4–8 | 3–3 | 2–8 | 5–4 | 4–5 | — | 3–3 | 1–5 | 5–5 |
| San Diego | 1–6 | 3–6 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 1–5 | 5–5 | 4–6 | 0–12 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–3 | — | 5–2 | 4–2 |
| San Francisco | 1–5 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 7–3 | 4–2 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 5–1 | 2–5 | — | 2–4 |
| St. Louis | 7–5 | 5–5 | 2–2–1 | 4–8 | 7–3 | 4–8 | 4–2 | 3–7 | 3–6 | 3–4 | 5–5 | 2–4 | 4–2 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 27, 1994: Kevin Maas was signed as a free agent by the Reds.
* May 29, 1994: Roberto Kelly and Roger Etheridge (minors) were traded by the Reds to the Atlanta Braves for Deion Sanders.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Brian Dorsett | 76 | 216 | 53 | .245 | 5 | 26 |
| 1B | Hal Morris | 112 | 436 | 146 | .335 | 10 | 78 |
| 2B | Bret Boone | 108 | 381 | 122 | .320 | 12 | 68 |
| SS | Barry Larkin | 110 | 427 | 119 | .279 | 9 | 52 |
| 3B | Tony Fernández | 104 | 366 | 102 | .279 | 8 | 50 |
| LF | Kevin Mitchell | 95 | 310 | 101 | .326 | 30 | 77 |
| CF | Roberto Kelly | 47 | 179 | 54 | .302 | 3 | 21 |
| RF | Reggie Sanders | 107 | 400 | 105 | .263 | 17 | 62 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Deion Sanders | 46 | 184 | 51 | .277 | 0 | 7 |
| Thomas Howard | 83 | 178 | 47 | .264 | 5 | 24 |
| Ed Taubensee | 61 | 177 | 52 | .294 | 8 | 21 |
| Jacob Brumfield | 68 | 122 | 38 | .311 | 4 | 11 |
| Jeff Branson | 58 | 109 | 31 | .284 | 6 | 16 |
| Lenny Harris | 66 | 100 | 31 | .310 | 0 | 14 |
| Jerome Walton | 46 | 68 | 21 | .309 | 1 | 9 |
| Willie Greene | 16 | 37 | 8 | .216 | 0 | 3 |
| Brian Hunter | 9 | 23 | 7 | .304 | 4 | 10 |
| Joe Oliver | 6 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 1 | 5 |
| Steve Pegues | 11 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| José Rijo | 26 | 172.1 | 9 | 6 | 3.08 | 171 |
| John Smiley | 24 | 158.2 | 11 | 10 | 3.86 | 112 |
| Erik Hanson | 22 | 122.2 | 5 | 5 | 4.11 | 101 |
| John Roper | 16 | 92.0 | 6 | 2 | 4.50 | 51 |
| Tim Pugh | 10 | 47.2 | 3 | 3 | 6.04 | 24 |
| Tom Browning | 7 | 40.2 | 3 | 1 | 4.20 | 22 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Pete Schourek | 22 | 81.1 | 7 | 2 | 4.09 | 69 |
| Kevin Jarvis | 6 | 17.2 | 1 | 1 | 7.13 | 10 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Jeff Brantley | 50 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 2.48 | 63 |
| Chuck McElroy | 52 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2.34 | 38 |
| Johnny Ruffin | 51 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3.09 | 44 |
| Hector Carrasco | 45 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2.24 | 41 |
| Tim Fortugno | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.20 | 29 |
| Rich DeLucia | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.22 | 15 |
| Jerry Spradlin | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 4 |
| Scott Service | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7.36 | 5 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Marc Bombard |
| AA | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern League | Pat Kelly |
| A | Winston-Salem Spirits | Carolina League | Mark Berry |
| A | Charleston Wheelers | South Atlantic League | Tom Nieto |
| Rookie | Princeton Reds | Appalachian League | John Stearns |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Donnie Scott |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Indianapolis, Princeton, Billings