Brayan Pena took smiling offense at the suggestion.
“He’s not chubby, I’m chubby,” said the Cincinnati Reds’ 5-foot-9, 228-pound veteran catcher. “He wears lots of T-shirts. He works really hard to maintain his physique. And he’s pretty strong. He’ll fool you. He just wears lots of T-shirts.”
Pena was talking about Johnny Cueto, the Reds’ starting pitcher with the long-braided hair, the distinctive back-to-the-batter windup and the same compact build as his.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and right now the Cincinnati Reds like everything they see in Cueto.
The 28-year-old right-hander not only did something recenlty that hasn’t been done in the majors for 105 years, but – if you listen to Pena, teammate Zack Cozart and even Cueto himself – he now has established himself as the best pitcher in the big leagues.
In his first nine starts this season, Cueto went at least seven innings in each of those outings and gave up no more than two runs in any. The last time a pitcher did that was 1909 when the Philadelphia Athletics’ Harry Krause made 10 similar starts.
“I did not know that, I didn’t even know that was something there was,” Cueto said through interpreter Tomas Vera. “Now that I know, I thank God that I was the guy who was able to do it after 100 years.”
While he might not be aware of the distant, dusty past, Cueto does know the present.
So does Cozart:
“That guy needs to start getting some national attention. I was watching TV the other day and they were still talking about (Zack) Greinke, (Clayton) Kershaw and (Jose) Fernandez. I was like, ‘Well, what about Johnny C?’ That guy never leaves anything over the plate for them to drive. Since I’ve been in the big leagues, he’s probably pitching better than anybody I’ve seen.”
Asked about that later, Cueto, never one to trumpet his own cause, was refreshingly candid and said yes, he thought he was the best pitcher in the game right now.
“I would say yes, because the numbers talk,” he said. “My numbers are gonna talk for me.”
Although the uninitiated might look at his record and think otherwise, his losses came when the bullpen and especially his own offense let him down.
“I’m gonna sound like a broken record, but it’s the truth. Man, he just goes out there and continues to improve every game,” said Pena. “He’s getting better and better. Right now his mindset is just so strong. It’s fun to be behind the plate when he’s pitching. Hopefully, all the position players say the same thing.”
The Reds certainly seemed to feed off Cueto’s magnificence and he, in turn, said he was buoyed by their suddenly resurgent bats.
As for the offense’s previous failures when Cueto has pitched, Pena offered an explanation:
“With all due respect, every time he goes out there we know it’s gonna be very low scoring because we know we’re going to face a pretty good pitcher, too.
“Other teams always put their best against our best – the best versus the best, kinda like a heavyweight fight.”
