GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Building the Cincinnati Reds’ lineup starts with deciding where to put Elly De La Cruz. The Reds’ most talented hitter could bat second, or bat third.

The next puzzle piece in the Reds’ lineup is TJ Friedl, who was a top-five leadoff hitter in MLB in most categories last season. He sets the tone that the Reds are looking for as a pesky table setter.

If the left-handed Friedl were a right-handed hitter, Terry Francona said that hitting De La Cruz second would be more of a consideration. But Friedl is left-handed, De La Cruz is a switch hitter who produces much more vs. RHP and the Reds don’t want to stack two hitters who are so much better vs. RHP than LHP at the top of the order.

“A lot of teams hit their guy second,” Francona said. “I like hitting Elly third. I want to try to help our guys, not make it harder. You line up guys sometimes, and there’s something to be said for lining your best guys up early. I get it. But if you line it up where that lefty (reliever) is going to come in and they’re going to beat them up, that’s not helping.”

Francona, who loves keeping his lineup consistent, is trying to avoid, for example, the Brewers bringing in a standout lefty like Jared Koenig for the bottom of the seventh inning to face Friedl and De La Cruz back-to-back.

You could make a case that De La Cruz should hit second anyway. Last season, four teams opened the year with a top-two in the lineup that’s essentially the same as Friedl-De La Cruz (two lefties or a lefty and a switch hitter who’s better vs. RHP). Three more teams used a two-lefty combination like that for a significant chunk of the season. Hitting De La Cruz second would give him more at-bats over the course of the year, and it would put more speed on base for the team’s best run producers in the middle of the order.

Francona is thinking more about late-game matchups. He says he’d like to at least make the other team think about bringing in a righty or keeping a righty in the game.

“We want to break up TJ and Elly. If they bring in a lefty, you don’t want to make it easy on him,” Francona said.

Also, Francona said, “(De La Cruz) likes hitting third. There’s a lot of reasons it works.”

With Friedl leading off and De La Cruz hitting third, Francona is looking for a No. 2 hitter who can make an impact against left-handed pitchers.

Francona says who’s going to hit second is the biggest question when he looks at the lineup.

The top half of the lineup will be Friedl-TBD-De La Cruz-Eugenio Suárez.

Let’s go through the Reds’ options for the No. 2 spot.

Noelvi Marte

He was one of the Reds’ best players in 2025, and he carried the offense for a while during the summer while De La Cruz was slumping. Marte became a critical piece of the lineup and effectively permanently moved up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup on Aug. 20. He’s the incumbent in the No. 2 spot in the Reds’ order.

“My first thought is Marte,” Francona said. “But he struggled so bad against lefties.”

In 2025, Marte posted a .562 OPS vs. LHP (his OPS vs. RHP was .821). His OPS vs. LHP was the worst of any of the regulars in the Reds’ lineup. For his career, Marte has a .595 OPS vs. LHP.

If the point is breaking up Friedl and De La Cruz with a right-handed hitter, that hitter ideally can mash left-handed pitching.

Marte’s focus during the offseason was a plan to improve vs. LHP.

“That was a big push for the offseason focus,” hitting coach Chris Valaika said. “He should be crushing lefties.”

Marte and Valaika took a deep dive into the swing mechanics. They saw that lefty spin (as well as sinkers from right-handers) can give Marte trouble because of his flatter swing.

“There’s some directionality that we isolated,” Valaika said. “The big thing for him, like a lot of guys, is controlling the strike zone. We made a huge focus in the offseason doing a lot of constraint-based stuff. A lot of challenge work. Especially lefty-angle balls that get back into him.

Mechanically, there’s some stuff. Especially with the leg kick and the timing aspect.”

Even though he had a below-average whiff rate in 2025, Marte has the tools to be a solid hitter for average (he hit .316 in 2023). To take that next step, he’s working on doing a better job of hunting pitches he can do damage against.

Throughout his big league career, the tell that Marte is swinging the bat well is when he takes his hits the other way. An opposite field approach can help him going forward.

“Forcing pitchers to get back into his zone,” Valaika said. “When he’s at his best, he’s driving the ball through right-center field and pulling breaking ball. That’s the message with him. Get back to the middle of the field. If they spin you in the zone, you’re free to pull it. Let’s not chase power for just power’s sake.”

Even if he’s not chasing power, the power will come. Marte hit at a 25 homer pace in the big leagues in 2025.

If Marte hits his ceiling this year and builds on the upside that he showed last year (as well as in 2023), Francona says Marte would be a perfect guy to hit second.

Spencer Steer

In 2025, Steer battled shoulder, quad and rib injuries. He survived the worst start to the season that you’ll see (.125 average through 17 games), and that slump was because he was on the Opening Day roster when he probably shouldn’t have been (Steer missed spring training with a shoulder injury but talked his way onto the roster as a DH).

Between April 23 and the end of the season, Steer posted a .766 OPS (that would have ranked third among Reds regulars last year).

“You flip over the baseball card,” Valaika said. “He started slow in April last year. To finish where he finished is pretty solid with 20+ homers. You know what you’re going to get out of him. He’s continuing to grow as a big leaguer, too. He’ll smash breaking balls. He put the work in on some fastball stuff. Being healthy, we’ll see a better version of him as well.”

He was the Reds’ most clutch player in September. Francona said late in the season, ““The last week, (Steer) has kind of put us on his back.”

Steer is an old school hitter who sees pitches very well, and he has hit 20+ homers in each of the last two years. He has a good blend of skills.

Also, very relevant to this conversation, Steer was the Reds’ second-most consistent hitter vs. LHP last season (behind Tyler Stephenson).

If I were making a projected lineup right now, I’d have Steer in the No. 2 spot.

Sal Stewart

Expectations are high for him in 2026. He looks good this spring. He can really, really hit. He absolutely raked versus lefties in the minor leagues in 2025 (he only got seven plate appearances in the big leagues versus lefties).

He should play a big role in the lineup in 2026.

“He’s confident,” Valaika said. “For him to come to the big leagues last year, have success and go to the playoffs with us, there are some important things with that. He looks great. He took his offseason hitting program seriously. He’s really challenging himself when it comes to the velocity, especially at the top of the zone. I was really pleased for as young as he is, the maturity that he brings.”

Recently, Francona was asked what the addition of Suárez can do for Sal Stewart. Francona responded, “It could be the other way around — what does Sal do for Suárez? He can be a pretty good hitter.”

Stewart would be an ideal hitter behind Suárez, offering protection in the lineup for the Reds’ best home run hitter. Maybe Stewart ends up hitting fifth, but he probably can make an impact anywhere.

Matt McLain

As much as he struggled in 2025, McLain had more starts out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup (66) than any other Reds’ hitter.

Francona said, “I still think in a perfect world if McLain is who McLain is, he’s the perfect guy (in the No. 2 spot). But he didn’t swing it like he could (last year). Hopefully, he will.”