{"id":660100,"date":"2026-04-03T03:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660100\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T03:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T03:17:14","slug":"reds-notes-lodolo-outfield-friedl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660100\/","title":{"rendered":"Reds Notes: Lodolo, Outfield, Friedl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reds lefty Nick Lodolo<\/a> left tonight\u2019s rehab start with Low-A Daytona in the third inning due to more blister issues on his left index finger, relays Manny Randhawa of MLB.com<\/a>. Lodolo cruised through the first eight hitters with four strikeouts before coming out of the game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an all too familiar problem for the former seventh overall pick. Lodolo developed his most recent blister in his final start of Spring Training, leading to a season-opening injured list stint. It\u2019s the third straight season in which blisters have shelved him. He missed most of August last year and a couple weeks between June and July in 2024.<\/p>\n

The index finger has bothered him off and on dating back to his time in the minor leagues. He has also had major league injured list stints with back, calf and groin injuries \u2014 plus a sprain of his middle finger that ended his \u201924 season. He\u2019s a mid-rotation starter when healthy and coming off a career season. Lodolo tossed 156 2\/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball while striking out 24% of opponents a year ago.<\/p>\n

This flareup should be a minor problem, but it\u2019s no doubt frustrating for player and team alike. The hope had been for Lodolo to get through 60-65 pitches tonight and only need one rehab start before rejoining the MLB rotation next week. That\u2019s probably not happening now. He left after 40 pitches and it\u2019s unclear whether he\u2019ll need a brief rest period before giving it another go in a game.<\/p>\n

Brandon Williamson<\/a> has stepped into the rotation behind\u00a0Andrew Abbott<\/a>,\u00a0Brady Singer<\/a>,\u00a0Rhett Lowder<\/a> and\u00a0Chase Burns<\/a>. Lodolo\u2019s injury led the Reds to promote rookie righty Jose Franco<\/a> as a long reliever. After tonight\u2019s off day, Cincinnati has 10 consecutive game days.<\/p>\n

The Reds haven\u2019t made any changes to their 13-man position player group since Opening Day. Their infield of Sal Stewart<\/a>,\u00a0Matt McLain<\/a>,\u00a0Elly De La Cruz<\/a> and\u00a0Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes<\/a> has been set in stone, as has\u00a0Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/a> as the primary designated hitter. Manager Terry Francona has played more matchups around the outfield, where no one has been locked into an everyday position.<\/p>\n

TJ Friedl<\/a> has been in the lineup regularly, but he\u2019s not quite as settled as a full-time center fielder as he was last season. The Reds have kicked Friedl over to left field on five occasions, including his first start in left since 2023. Francona said this week he has liked what he\u2019s seen from Friedl as a left fielder (via Charlie Goldsmith of Fox 19 Now<\/a>). The 30-year-old\u2019s fringy speed and arm strength probably fit better in left than in center all things considered.<\/p>\n

Dane Myers<\/a> is a better runner with a stronger arm. He\u2019s probably the best defensive center fielder on the roster. Playing Friedl more often in left would open opportunities to draw Myers into the lineup, though that\u2019d be a leap of faith in his bat. Myers is already a lock to play against left-handed pitching, against whom he\u2019s a .294\/.356\/.449 hitter in his career.<\/p>\n

Myers has just a .220\/.266\/.296 line against right-handers. His only start of the season came against Boston lefty Connelly Early<\/a> over the weekend. The rest of his appearances have come as a late-game substitute with Friedl sliding to left field.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve had a three-man rotation through the corner spots between Spencer Steer<\/a>,\u00a0Will Benson<\/a> and\u00a0Noelvi Marte<\/a>. Steer has been the primary starter in left. He\u2019s out to a slow start this season after hitting at a league average level in each of the past two years. Benson and Marte are splitting time in right field, though the Reds probably won\u2019t use a strict platoon that limits the 24-year-old Marte to work against left-handed pitching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reds lefty Nick Lodolo left tonight\u2019s rehab start with Low-A Daytona in the third inning due to more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,1951,1331,542,6288,8167,7656],"class_list":{"0":"post-660100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dane-myers","10":"tag-nick-lodolo","11":"tag-noelvi-marte","12":"tag-spencer-steer","13":"tag-tj-friedl","14":"tag-will-benson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116338612925854200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}