Nick Senzel

Nicholas Peter Senzel (born June 29, 1995) is an American professional baseball outfielder and third baseman for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds.

Prior to playing professionally, Senzel attended the University of Tennessee, where he played college baseball for the Volunteers.

On June 17, 2013, he committed to the University of Tennessee.

Due to his late change to Tennessee, he played his first season in college as a walk-on.

As a freshman at the University of Tennessee in 2014, Senzel had a .315 batting average, a .419 on-base percentage (OBP), and a .420 SLG, with twelve doubles.

He played in 53 of 54 games with 45 starts coming at designated hitter (DH) and eight at second base.

He was named a freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger and Perfect Game.

Following his freshman season at Tennessee, Senzel played collegiate summer baseball for the Mat-Su Miners of the Alaska Baseball League, where he batted 17-for-81 (.210) with three home runs and 13 RBIs.

As a sophomore in 2015, Senzel batted .325 with a .495 SLG, 4 home runs, and 28 RBIs.

In the summer of 2015, he played for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and received the league's MVP and Outstanding Pro Prospect awards after hitting .364 with four home runs and 33 RBIs.

The Reds selected him with the second overall selection in the 2016 MLB draft and he made his major league debut in 2019.

Senzel attended Farragut High School in Farragut, Tennessee.

Playing for the school's varsity baseball team all four years, he was a starter since his sophomore season.

As a junior, he recorded a .404 batting average, seven home runs, and 46 runs batted in (RBIs) while playing second base for the Admirals.

Following his junior season, he signed his National Letter of Intent to join the Georgia baseball team.

As a senior, he hit .386 with five home runs and 42 RBIs.

After Georgia fired coach David Perno, he was granted a release from his letter of intent to the University of Georgia.

In the 2016 season as a junior, Senzel hit 25 doubles to lead the Southeastern Conference.

Senzel was nominated for the Golden Spikes Award, which is awarded to the top collegiate player in the nation.

He was also named a Perfect Game'/Rawlings First Team All-American, a Second Team All-American by Baseball America and Third Team All-America selection by both Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and D1Baseball.

Senzel was considered to be one of the best available players in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, The Philadelphia Phillies, who had the first overall pick, scouted Senzel.

Many baseball executives and scouts agreed that Senzel was the safest pick in the draft.

He was also rated as the best hitter in the draft because of his abilities to hit gap-to-gap with power.

After the Phillies selected Mickey Moniak with the first overall selection, the Cincinnati Reds chose Senzel with the second overall pick.

On June 13, 2016, Senzel signed with the Reds, receiving a $6.2 million signing bonus.

Senzel made his professional debut with the Billings Mustangs of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, where he batted .152 with one double.

He was promoted to the Dayton Dragons of the Class A Midwest League on June 30.

He hit .329 with seven home runs for Dayton.

Senzel began the 2017 season with the Daytona Tortugas of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, and was promoted to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Class AA Southern League in June.

He posted a combined .321 batting average with 14 home runs, 65 RBIs, and a .905 OPS in 119 games between Daytona and Pensacola.

Senzel began 2018 with the Louisville Bats of the Class AAA International League.

On June 23, 2018, it was revealed that Senzel's 2018 season ended after he required surgery to repair a torn ligament on his right index finger.

Upon his return from injury, Senzel told new Reds' manager David Bell, that he was preparing to play center field.

The Reds allowed Senzel to play center field in Spring Training with a chance to compete with Scott Schebler for the starting role.

He had a .308 with a .300 on-base percentage and a .462 slugging percentage.

Despite his performance, the Reds elected to send Senzel to minor league camp.

Senzel's agent assumed that the service-time rules in baseball was the majority influence on the team's decision; if Senzel were to play 12 days in the minors before being promoted to the majors, the Reds would receive another year of club control.

Just three days later, Senzel sprained his ankle during a minor league game.

In eight games with Louisville, Senzel hit one home run and batted .257.