The 2023 Cincinnati Reds roster looked a whole lot like the 2025 Cincinnati Reds roster, especially on the position player side of things. Those Reds ran, too – all over the place.

That season saw Cincinnati explode for 190 stolen bases, and that came despite only partial seasons from Elly De La Cruz (35 in 98 games) and Matt McLain (14 in 89 games). That team total was the highest in all Major League Baseball, and 6 of the top 7 players on the Reds leaderboard suited right back up for Cincinnati in 2025:

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These guys are two years older now, sure. They aren’t old, though, with Friedl and the since-DFA’d Fraley having just turned 30 this calendar year. In fact, they stole even more bags just last year – 207 as a team, good for 3rd most in the majors – than they did in that league-leading season.

Swiping bags was just part of their hallmark during those David Bell-led seasons, as being hyper-aggressive taking extra bases on balls in play was similarly the goal of that club. They had speed above power on their priority list while building the roster, and they put it to work to make up for their lack of ability when it came to hitting the ball over the wall.

Fast-forward to the 2nd half of the 2025 season, and you’ll find that these Reds just don’t run anymore.

The much more conservative Terry Francona has harped repeatedly over the course of this season about reducing the number of outs made on the bases, and that’s become part of this club’s DNA. Problem is, it’s still a roster that doesn’t hit the ball over the fences, meaning they’re now depending even more on stringing together multiple hits to get runs across the plate – the single most difficult thing to pull off in this three-true-outcomes era of power pitching.

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During the 2nd half of 2025, the Reds have swiped just 20 bags in 44 games, a number greater than that of only five other clubs. That’s despite a healthy-enough 8.4% walk-rate (12th among MLB clubs) and OBP (.320, 14th), so it’s not merely a function of them not getting on base enough to try. But while their .131 ISO in this 2nd half ranks ahead of only St. Louis (.126), they’re simply not making up for it by taking bags with their speed anymore.

The Nick Krall front office built this roster on speed and line-drive contact, eschewing power (likely due to the fact that power often costs money to sign). Now, they’ve removed the outsized priority placed on speed from how they deploy their players, meaning we’re watching a powerless, speed-avoidant club that’s trying its ass off to score runs purely through singles into the gaps.

Maybe, just maybe, they should’ve been leaning harder into their strengths this whole time.