by Scott White | Senior Fantasy Writer (5/21/2013) Remember back in 2011 when Jay Bruce hit .237 with four home runs in April? You probably don't because he went on to hit .342 with 12 home runs in May, causing his final numbers to look positively normal.
So far this year, he's following the same pattern. After hitting .252 with one homer in April, he's hitting .338 with five homers in May.
Last year was more the exception than the rule for the Reds slugger. His final numbers came out more or less the same, but he maintained a steady pace from start to finish. Normally, he's as streaky as streaky gets.
Case in point: After that colossal May in 2011, Bruce hit .236 with 16 home runs in his final 104 games. Just something to keep in mind whenever he cools off this time around.
Reds 'welcome' Jay Bruce's surge
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (5/21/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce continued his May surge Monday against the Mets. Bruce homered for the second straight game and for the third time in four games.
After homering once in April, Bruce has five home runs in 16 May games. He's batting .338 (23 for 68) with one triple, nine doubles, 10 runs and 19 RBI this month.
"He's swinging that bat well," manager Dusty Baker said, per MLB.com. "We welcome it big time. We've been sort of waiting on it, and I just hope this stays and sustains itself."
Jay Bruce homers for fifth time
by Jack Moore | CBSSports.com (5/19/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce hit his fifth home run in Sunday's loss to Philadelphia.
The home run, a solo shot, was Bruce's only hit of the day. His line sits at .279/.323/.458. Bruce has not posted a slugging percentage below .470 since his rookie year in 2008.
Jay Bruce continues to heat up
by Chris Towers | CBSSports.com (5/18/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce continued to turn his season around Friday against the Phillies, as he homered for the third time in seven games.
Bruce went 2 for 4 in the game, with a two-run home run in the sixth inning of a 5-3 loss. Bruce snapped a streak of five games in a row with one strikeout, while also extending his hitting streak to eight games.
He is batting .394 with three home runs, 10 RBI and five runs scored during his streak, raising his batting average for the year from .246 to .275.
Jay Bruce extends hitting streak to 7 games
by R.J. White | CBSSports.com (5/16/2013) Reds right fielder Jay Bruce extended his hitting streak to seven games with a 2-for-3 performance against the Marlins Thursday. He drove in three of his team's five runs, all coming on a 10th-inning double with the bases loaded that would decide the game.
Bruce has hit .269/.318/.419 with just three home runs in 179 plate appearances, but his 14 doubles are tied for the National League lead.
Jay Bruce not in Reds' lineup
by Chris Cwik | CBSSports.com (5/14/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce is not in the team's lineup Tuesday against the Marlins.
Bruce was starting to heat up, with seven hits in his last five games. He's started 38 games for the team this season, and is likely just receiving a normal day off. Donald Lutz will start in right field and bat seventh in Bruce's absence.
Jay Bruce heating up for Reds
by Adam Moore | CBSSports.com (5/11/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce had himself a productive day at the plate Saturday against the Brewers. Bruce collected three hits in a 13-7 win, finishing 3 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored.
He ripped his third home run of the year in his first at-bat and doubled twice in the third inning as the Reds plated seven runs in the frame. Bruce became the first Reds player with two hits in one inning since Drew Stubbs accomplished the feat back in 2011 against the Brewers.
"It's a long season," Bruce said. "I'm trying to get pitches to hit. Lately, I've been missing them less."
Bruce has hit safely in nine of the past 10 games and is batting .272 (12 for 44) with two home runs, five doubles and nine RBI over that span.
Jay Bruce connects for second home run
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (5/8/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce connected for his second home run Wednesday against the Braves, which was a solo shot off Anthony Varvaro in the ninth inning. Bruce finished 1 for 3 with one walk.
Both of Bruce's home runs have come in the last 16 games. He's batting .215 (14 for 65) with one triple, three doubles, eight runs and nine RBI in that span.
Owners giving up on Jay Bruce
by Chris Cwik | CBSSports.com (5/7/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce is among the most traded players in Fantasy leagues this year.
Bruce has gotten off to a slow start, hitting .246/.297/.348 in 138 at-bats. Bruce's complete lack of power has been the most surprising aspect of his slump. Bruce's high infield fly ball rate has been one of the main reasons for his plummeting home run rate. He's never shown these issues before, so there's a good chance he'll turn things around at some point. Once that happens, he should return to his normal self.
Bruce has gone through big streaks over his career, and all it takes is one good month to get him back on track.
Jay Bruce collects two hits
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (5/1/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce hit safely for the fourth time in the previous five games on Wednesday against the Cardinals. He went 2 for 4 in the 4-2 loss.
The 26-year-old tripled in his first at-bat before leading off the fourth inning with a single.
Bruce is batting .261 with one homer and 11 RBI.
Jay Bruce dropped in Reds' lineup
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (4/28/2013) Reds manager Dusty Baker made a tweak to his lineup Sunday against the Nationals. With left-hander Ross Detwiler on the mound, Baker dropped Jay Bruce to the sixth spot in the lineup and elevated Todd Frazier to the fifth spot.
"Frazier’s good against lefties and Bruce has struggled against this guy," Baker said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. "It’s been a struggle this first month with Bruce, period. We need some RBI from Frazier and he’s been pretty good with men on base."
Baker said he isn't sure how long this lineup change will last.
"Things change during the course of a season, because we are in the production business," Baker said. "Sometimes you’ve just got to do things. You wait and wait and wait and sometimes you’ve got to make a change. I don’t know how long this is for."
Bruce entered play Sunday mired in a 4-for-26 slump (.154), dropping his season average from .289 to .255.
Buckle in for Jay Bruce
by Nando Di Fino | Senior Fantasy Writer (4/23/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce finally connected for his first home run of the season Monday, ending a 19-game drought. With an average of 33 home runs the past two years, Bruce needs to pick up the pace to return some value to his owners. And although he has shown us better starts to the season, Bruce actually enjoys his best performances in May.
In 439 career at-bats, Bruce has hit 29 home runs in May, with a .278 average, 82 runs and 78 RBI. These are all career-bests for any month. Additionally, Bruce is a streaky player, who can hit home runs in bunches. Last year, he had two separate streaks of four games in a row with home runs, along with four other streaks in which he homered in back-to-back games (including a three-game streak).
With a home run, Bruce becomes especially dangerours, as there are usually at least two coming over the next few games. Daily leaguers, especially, may want to take note.
Jay Bruce ends homerless slide
by Bill Passonno | CBSSports.com (4/23/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce blasted his first home run of the season and drove in three runs during Cincinnati's 5-4 win over the Cubs in 13 innings Monday. He finished 2 for 5 and also added a two-run double in the 13th inning to tie the game before scoring the game-winning run later in the inning.
Bruce, who has a hit in seven of his past eight games, struck out in his first two at-bats before homering to lead off the seventh inning, his first regular-season blast since last Sept. 22. Bruce clubbed seven home runs during the month of April last season.
Jay Bruce hitting well over last 10
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (4/16/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce recorded his fifth multi-hit performance on Monday night against the Phillies. He went 2 for 3 with a walk in a 4-2 win.
The 26-year-old singled in his first at-bat and collected another base hit in the eighth inning.
Bruce is batting .333 (15 for 45) in the last 10 games with five RBI and six runs scored.
Jay Bruce heating up for Reds
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (4/8/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce continued to hit well Monday against the Cardinals after batting .375 (6 for 16) in the previous series against the Nationals.
He went 4 for 5 with an RBI and two runs scored. The 26-year-old also walked and drove in Joey Votto with a single in the fourth inning of the 13-4 win.
Bruce is 10 for 21 (.476) with five RBI and five runs scored during his four-game hitting streak.
Jay Bruce records three RBI against Nationals
by Jack Moore | CBSSports.com (4/7/2013)Jay Bruce had three RBI as part of a 2-for-5 day against Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals.
Bruce doubled for the fourth time and singled to raise his batting line to .241/.267/.379. His three RBI led the Reds to a 6-3 victory.
Jay Bruce headed for extra work in batting cage
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (4/4/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce had another rough day at the plate Thursday against the Angels, going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.
He finished the three-game series with a .077 average (1 for 13) and seven strikeouts. Manager Dusty Baker said Bruce would be taking some extra swings in the batting cage Friday.
"I guess you’d rather have it now. You really don’t want to have it ever," Baker told MLB.com. "He gets into one of these strikeout streaks and sometimes you don’t know what to tell him."
Jay Bruce doubles for first hit
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (4/3/2013) After going 0 for 5 in the season opener, Reds outfielder Jay Bruce collected his first hit Wednesday against the Angels.
He doubled off starter C.J. Wilson in the fourth inning and finished 1 for 4 in the 5-4 win.
Bruce batted .232 in spring training with four homers, 10 RBI and a .554 slugging percentage.
Jay Bruce not focusing on results
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (3/25/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce is coming off a career campaign but has batted just .222 (10-for-45) through 18 Cactus League games. Still, he has hit four homers with eight RBI and a .578 slugging percentage in those contests and told the Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday that he came into camp with a different approach.
"I'm just trying to get generally better," Bruce said. "My biggest goal for camp is to kind of engrain my routine and process of preparation to get ready for the season. Fortunately, it's not imperative that I come in and worry about results, results, results."
Bruce posted career highs in home runs (34), RBI (99) and slugging percentage (.514) in 2012.
Bruce goes deep twice
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (3/5/2013) Cincinnati outfielder Jay Bruce had a very productive Cactus League performance against the Angels on Tuesday. Bruce went deep twice in the game for the Reds as he homered in the second inning off Tommy Hanson and again in the fourth off Scott Downs. The homers were the first two of the spring season for Bruce, who went 2 for 2 in the game and is batting .188 on the spring.
Bruce returns from sore heel
by Igor Mello | CBSSports.com (2/28/2013) Reds outfielder Jay Bruce, who missed the last two games with a sore heel, returned to the lineup Thursday afternoon against the Diamondbacks in Cactus League play. Bruce went 0 for 2 with a walk and scored a run in a 6-5 defeat.
Bruce eager to play again
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (2/26/2013) The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Reds outfielder Jay Bruce was held out of the lineup for a second straight spring game Tuesday against the Mariners because of a sore heel, but Bruce is eager to get back in the lineup. “He said he could play tomorrow,” manager Dusty Baker said. “But he’s not going to. We’ve got 32 more games.”
Bruce sidelined by sore heel
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (2/25/2013) The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Reds right fielder Jay Bruce was scratched from Monday's spring game against the Brewers because of a sore left heel. Bruce said he felt the injury while running. "Nothing big. We don't want it lingering. It's February," he said.
Bruce a team player
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (2/3/2013) MLB.com reports prior to the team's acquisition of Shin-Soo Choo, Reds right fielder Jay Bruce told the team he would be willing to play center field, despite having limited experience there. "Shin is an unbelievable outfielder, everybody knows that," Bruce said. "Whether he plays center or I play center, it doesn't matter. It's going to work itself out. We have options, and that's not something everyone has. For now, I'm the right fielder, and that's what I plan on being. If something ends up changing, that's the name of the game. Good teams adjust and adapt. We're a very good team."
