Terry Francona isn’t interested in treating the minors like a lab where winning can be pushed aside for the next layer of development. For Cincinnati’s manager, the lessons that matter most start long before a prospect reaches Great American Ball Park, and they begin with learning how to win.
That belief was front and center this September, when Single-A Daytona and High-A Dayton reached the postseason. Francona wasn’t looking at those playoff runs as a side note. He saw them as a chance for the organization’s young players to experience meaningful games together and start building something that can follow them through the system.
“If one of those teams wins, they honor them in Spring Training,” Francona said earlier this week. “I'll make sure I'm there.
And not pooh-poohing it. I don't give a [expletive] if the rings are real, if they're fake.
Winning is winning, and I want to make sure that they know [that]. In the Minor Leagues, you have to have parameters and guidelines on what you're going to do to develop guys.
But winning is still good.”
The Reds also took steps late in August to make sure those affiliates were set up for the postseason, moving select prospects from Double-A Chattanooga down to Dayton and Daytona to meet playoff-eligibility requirements. That gave those clubs the pieces they needed for September baseball that actually mattered.
Francona sees real value in that kind of shared experience. When players win together and move up together, he believes the connection sticks.
“I think when guys win together, and if they move up together, you can tell,” Francona said. “There's a little bit of a bond there, a little bit of swagger maybe. And that's a good thing.”
His approach to the entire farm system is built on respect, not intrusion. He doesn’t want to hover over minor league staffs or act like he needs to run every detail from the top.
“I think there's a way to be respectful,” Francona said. “Like the Draft, I went up to the Draft room, I didn't talk.
But I wanted to show that I gave a [expletive], but I don't need to be telling them who to Draft. That's a little different than being respectful.”
That same line carries over to coaching and instruction. Triple-A manager Pat Kelly and other organizational instructors handle the day-to-day teaching, including basics such as first-and-third defense and bunt coverages. Francona isn’t interested in barging in to reshape that work.
“I don't need to be the roving, hitting guy in the Minor Leagues,” Francona said. “I've been places where the manager [is consistently around, but ...]
We're going to do ours the way we think it fits our skill set. The young kids, they need to learn the fundamentals, and they don't need to have me dictate those.
That's not why I'm here.”
Whether he’s showing up in Spring Training to recognize affiliate champions or supporting the people in the organization’s front office and coaching ranks, Francona’s message stays the same: winning doesn’t start in the big leagues. It gets built from the ground up.
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