At the end of spring training, Terry Francona and Brad Meador met with Nathaniel Lowe to inform him that he had made the team. In that conversation, the manager and the general manager expressed that Lowe was going to be used as a bench bat. The former Silver Slugger Award winner wasn\u2019t going to play every day.<\/p>\n
Lowe told them, \u201cI played myself into this role. I\u2019ll play myself back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowe, 30 years old, has a long track record of being able to make an impact against right-handed pitching. But because of his struggles against lefties in 2025 and because of his age, he wasn\u2019t able to land a big league contract in free agency. Despite the fact that he looked like a top-four power hitter on the Reds (at least against right-handed pitching), Lowe was the last position player to make the Reds\u2019 roster this year. He barely played during the first couple of weeks of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know if a guy can maintain their swing,\u201d Francona said. \u201cHe has done a really good job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
One month later, Lowe is hitting fifth in the lineup on a regular basis as the Reds\u2019 DH. Eugenio Su\u00e1rez\u2019s mild oblique injury opened up more playing time. With regular at-bats, Lowe is now really starting to get into a rhythm. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s hitting .256 with a .938 OPS. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a more full upper body move,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way I see it. The ball isn\u2019t flying exactly the way I want it to yet. That\u2019ll come with getting in a rhythm with more at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s exciting to Lowe that he\u2019s producing even though he doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s swinging the bat great yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting the ball in the air without trying to get the ball in the air,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cIf you do something simple like that, good things are going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Su\u00e1rez landed on the IL, Lowe was playing about one-third of the time and found a spot in the lineup on off days for Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes (Su\u00e1rez played third base in a Reds\u2019 lineup that was chasing offense over defense on those days). <\/p>\n
With Su\u00e1rez on the IL, Lowe cleanly fills that spot as a full-time DH. We\u2019ll see what happens when Su\u00e1rez returns. If Lowe keeps hitting at the level he is now, then Francona will have to find ways to get Lowe\u2019s bat in the lineup more often by giving other players days off.<\/p>\n
Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes upbeat about his swing<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Hayes went 13 games without a hit. While his numbers looked terrible, he was optimistic. <\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that stretch or whatever, I was hitting a lot of balls hard,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI was being unlucky. There wasn\u2019t a whole lot that I felt like I needed to change outside of here or there not being ready (for the) first pitch or little stuff like that. I was hitting the ball well and being unlucky. I had to keep going, not think about it too much. Baseball sometimes is weird like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t have any big conversation with Francona, a teammate or a coach that helped get him back on track. He trusted the big mechanical and approach changes that he made in the offseason, which are geared to allow him to elevate the ball more than he has in the past. <\/p>\n
While he couldn\u2019t buy a hit for a while, at least he was successfully elevating the ball during that slump.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was that side of it,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI\u2019m not beating the ball into the ground as much. It was bad luck. I knew I was in a better position with how I was hitting. My exit velo average was up. I wasn\u2019t getting hits. I had to stick with what I was doing. Sooner or later, if you hit balls hard, you\u2019ll find hits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes, who has not been a productive offensive player since 2023, has been working on one thing recently. He felt like he wasn\u2019t always \u201cready to go for the first pitch\u201d in every single at-bat. He had to be ready to be aggressive each time up at the plate, and that approach can also buy him some pitches outside of the zone early in counts to get ahead. <\/p>\n
Hayes has been better over the last week, recording five hits, walking twice and stringing better at-bats together. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like he couldn\u2019t get anything to fall,\u201d Spencer Steer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to go through tough stretches like that. Hats off to him, how he handled it, how he\u2019s the same every day and works his butt off.\u201d <\/p>\n
TJ Friedl has a new motto for this season<\/p>\n
For TJ Friedl, the 2025 season was all about finding a way to get on base twice a day. <\/p>\n
This year, after starting the season in a major slump, Friedl shifted toward a bigger picture focus. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready every day no matter what. I\u2019m ready to come off the bench and win however I can,\u201d Friedl said. \u201cMy motto, what I go by, is \u2018What can I do to help the team win?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the first 20 games of the season, going back to last Sunday, Friedl was hitting .137 with no power production. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the start anybody wants,\u201d Friedl said. \u201cThe biggest thing for me has been separating each day on its own. Every day is a new day and a new opportunity to help the team win however you can. That\u2019s how I take it. \u2018What can I do to help the team win?\u2019 Base running, defense, offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
His center field defense was also not what it had been. His role was changing as Dane Myers started over Friedl vs. LHP and as Friedl played more left field than he has in years. <\/p>\n
Friedl isn\u2019t complaining about the change in role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready every day no matter what,\u201d Friedl said. \u201cI\u2019m ready to come off the bench and win however I can. My motto, what I go by, is \u2018What can I do to help the team win?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last Sunday, Friedl delivered the big, clutch double in the ninth inning and recorded his first extra-base hit of the year. He had a huge celebration in what he called a very \u201cexternal\u201d moment, fired up to be producing for the team. <\/p>\n
He has looked better over the last week, recording eight hits in six games.<\/p>\n
The big point of emphasis for him offensively as he works on his swing is being ready for the fastball without being too early. He would find himself whiffing on fastballs where he was late or hitting foul balls down the right field line against fastballs, and he\u2019s working to correct that.<\/p>\n
Francona said that he\u2019s starting to see Friedl get the ball on the barrel and keep it fair more often over the last week. Friedl has benefited from a shift in mindset. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting away from the mechanics and being sure that I\u2019m ready for the fastball,\u201d Friedl said. \u201cIf you\u2019re on time and ready for the heater, you\u2019ll be ready to hit everything else. I\u2019m getting back into that aggressive mindset, ready to hit from pitch one and being on fastball timing.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Dane Myers has been leading off recently vs. LHP and taken Friedl\u2019s spot on the field in those games, Francona has stuck with Friedl as the leadoff guy vs. RHP. <\/p>\n
Francona believes that Friedl is going to get on base at a high clip, like Friedl has in the past. <\/p>\n
\u201cGuys get to their level,\u201d Francona said. \u201cThey don\u2019t always do it one step at a time. But they usually do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no coincidence that some great games from the Reds\u2019 offense over the last week have been on days where Friedl has produced. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers aren\u2019t there, but (Friedl) is still a good baseball player,\u201d Steer said. \u201cYou want him up. He takes great at-bats. He\u2019s able to breath a little easier after doing that (in Minnesota). In Tampa, he took really good at-bats all series. You don\u2019t want to worry about guys like that. You know what they\u2019re capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outfield shuffle<\/p>\n
One month into the season, and the Reds aren\u2019t any closer to finding their third regular outfielder to play next to the Friedl\/Myers platoon and Spencer Steer. <\/p>\n
Su\u00e1rez\u2019s move to the IL opened up a roster spot for the Reds to call up JJ Bleday. While he opened the year in Triple-A, Bleday is more experienced than Rece Hinds and Will Benson. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like (Bleday) can help us,\u201d Francona said. <\/p>\n
Lowe beat out Bleday and Hinds for the final roster spot on Opening Day because the 26th man on the roster wasn\u2019t going to get a ton of starts and because the Reds wanted Bleday and Hinds to play every day. <\/p>\n
Between Bleday, Hinds and Benson, who\u2019s going to get the bulk of the time in the outfield?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know moving forward,\u201d Francona said. \u201cSome of it is who\u2019s pitching, how guys are hitting, some balance on the bench. You try to have a good reason for whoever plays. That\u2019s the best way I can put it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bleday was a top-five pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. As recently as the 2024 season, he was one of the more exciting young outfielders in the game as he hit 20 homers and posted a well above average OPS. <\/p>\n
Bleday had a nightmare 2025 season with the Athletics. He messed up his mechanics, wasn\u2019t as fluid in his swing as he needed to be and played poorly during the first half of the year. Getting optioned to Triple-A allowed Bleday to reset. He finished the year strong in the big leagues between August and September. <\/p>\n
In December, Bleday signed a one-year deal with the Reds. In Triple-A over the last month, he hit .341. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe certainly can hit a fastball,\u201d Francona said. \u201cHe has been a good base runner. A good defender. And he was a really good teammate. That\u2019s saying something when you\u2019re disappointed you\u2019re being sent (down to Triple-A). You like to see guys handle it like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contenders for the third outfield spot also include Hinds and Benson. <\/p>\n
Plan A for this outfield spot was Noelvi Marte, who\u2019s now in Triple-A. Plan B was Hinds, who started seven out of his first eight games after being called up. But Hinds wasn\u2019t playing well, and Benson has received two starts over the Reds\u2019 most recent four games. Bleday started over Hinds and Benson on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Hinds now has the same number of big league plate appearances this season as Marte (31), and there are a lot of similarities in their metrics.<\/p>\n
Marte had the worst xWOBA (that captures how well you are making quality contact) among hitters with at least 25 plate appearances, and Hinds has the fourth-worst. <\/p>\n
Hinds has the fourth-worst whiff rate in MLB, and he\u2019s swinging at everything. He\u2019s not chasing as much as Marte was (Marte makes a ton of contact on pitches out of the zone), but the numbers show that they each need better plans at the plate (Marte is working on that in Louisville). The most telling number is that Marte saw the fewest percentage of strikes in MLB this year, and Hinds is seeing the second-fewest percentage of strikes.<\/p>\n
Benson has only made 12 starts all season, and he has one hit since April 7. On the bright side, he has drawn seven walks in that span of 22 plate appearances. He hasn\u2019t played his way into much of an opportunity yet. He\u2019s whiffing on pitches in the strike zone (the fifth-worst in-zone whiff rate in MLB), and he\u2019s getting \u201cunder\u201d the ball (weak pop ups and fly outs) at the third-highest rate in MLB.<\/p>\n
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