Francona said, via Reds reporter Charlie Goldsmith.<\/a> \u201cThey\u2019re good workers. Great kids. Great teammates. You\u2019ve got to plug away. We will. I fully believe guys get to their level as long as they\u2019re healthy.\u201d<\/p>\nFrancona has always had a lot of trust and belief in the roster that he has in Cincinnati. While TJ Friedl has struggled this season, Francona has always been vocal about the player, worker, and leader that he is. The same thing can be said for Spencer Steer.<\/p>\n
The Reds have scored 41 runs through 14 games, which ranked dead last in the league. They’ve held their opponents to 58 runs scored, which ranks in the middle of the pack. The Reds’ run differential (-17), which was once positive, is the second-worst in baseball, only ahead of the Chicago White Sox (-29).<\/p>\n
Reds Have A Lot More Potential Than They’ve Shown![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knygk6497wwqwehwwx.jpg\" "\\"Cincinnati")
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Apr 8, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Cincinnati Reds second baseman Matt McLain (9) looks on after a called strike three pitch to end the game as Miami Marlins catcher Liam Hicks (34) holds the ball in his glove at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Practically everything has gone wrong for the Reds this season, besides Sal Stewart. Elly De La Cruz is crushing the ball on occasion, but it doesn’t seem like he’s fully found his stride despite holding a .795 OPS through 14 games.<\/p>\n
Matt McLain, who was the best player in baseball during spring training, has cooled off completely. He’s slashing .218\/.328\/.273, but he’s making some decently loud contact and putting together good at-bats. This should turn around in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our approaches could be a little better, but no pressing,\u201d McLain said, via Goldsmith. \u201cWe\u2019ve faced some good arms so far. A lot of bad luck. That\u2019s baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friedl is playing the worst baseball of his career right now. While he looks a bit slower than usual, it’s very unlikely that he struggles like this for the entire season. While it seems like Friedl has struggled for 2 months, it’s only been two weeks. He’s been far too consistent for the Reds over the last few years to cut him from the roster.<\/p>\n
Ke’Bryan Hayes is the victim of some unfortunate batted ball luck, but he’s hitting under .100, so it’s hard to blame luck completely, but he should see regression to the mean, too.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to be frustrated with the Reds. There are some moves they could look to make, including promoting Rece Hinds and JJ Bleday, but the Reds shouldn’t start feeling sorry for themselves. It’s a long season.<\/p>\n
Make sure you\u00a0bookmark Cincinnati Reds Talk\u00a0for the latest news, exclusive interviews, and daily coverage of the Cincinnati Reds! Follow Cincinnati Reds OnSI on Twitter\/X:\u00a0@RedsTalkSI. Like Our Cincinnati Reds On SI Facebook Page. Follow Cincinnati Reds On SI on Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Reds have already been through a roller coaster ride of a season this year, and they’re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,535,50,4259,4,536],"class_list":{"0":"post-673403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-cincinnatireds","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-reds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116387071115388260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673403","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=673403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knygafef68rs103mb5.jpg\" "\\"Cincinnati")
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