The Reds know exactly where the problems lived in 2026: not at the top, but in the spaces underneath it.
Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart gave Cincinnati two major offensive bright spots, with De La Cruz posting his first 30/30 season at 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases and Stewart putting together a Rookie of the Year-caliber year with 32 homers and 112 RBIs. Beyond those two, though, the lineup thinned out fast, and president Nick Krall said the front office has to do a better job building the rest of the roster for manager Terry Francona.
“We didn’t do a great job with the bottom of the roster," Krall said. "We need to do a better job of filling in the bottom of the roster, whether it’s complementary players or some of the starters, doing a better job to get Tito more guys that he can platoon, that are usable platoon guys.”
That shortage showed up in the numbers. The Reds finished last in Major League Baseball in batting average at .229 and on-base percentage at .305, and they were 27th in runs scored with 666. That came even after they added free-agent slugger Eugenio Suárez and value pickup JJ Bleday.
Suárez was supposed to bring power, and he did produce 26 home runs, but the year never fully came together. He opened slowly, dealt with an oblique injury, then settled in more after the break. Even so, his .212 average and .740 OPS were both down, and with a $16 million mutual option for 2027, he looks unlikely to be back.
The issues went deeper than one veteran bat. Matt McLain followed one down offensive year with another, finishing at .185 with a .608 OPS.
TJ Friedl, an important piece of the 2025 team, never found his rhythm and was gone from the roster by the end of the season. Ke'Bryan Hayes had a brutal offensive campaign, batting .141 with a 17 OPS+, while hitting five homers in 94 games and driving in only nine runs.
The swing-and-miss was a problem all year. Cincinnati tied for the fourth-highest whiff rate in MLB at 27.1%, struck out more than any National League team and tied for the highest strikeout rate in the majors at 25.5%. The Reds also ranked 26th in in-zone contact rate at 82.2%.
Still, there was one encouraging piece in the profile: when the Reds did square the ball up, it usually carried real damage. Their 9.4% barrel rate trailed only the Yankees in MLB.
“Last year, we came and we added more power. At the end of the day, we were second in home runs [in the NL with 213] and last [in the NL] in runs scored," Krall said.
"We need to get on base more, no question. First and foremost, we need to make better contact and get on base more.
That’s the most important thing we can do.”
Francona ended the season talking about the edge he wants from his 2027 club.
"Whether that means in the batter's box with two strikes, we've got to set the bar a little higher and get tougher," Francona said.
The coaching staff is already changing in one spot. The Reds kept hitting coach Chris Valaika, but they let assistant hitting coach Will Remillard go after the season. Krall said he still believes in Valaika’s approach, one centered on contact and reaching base, and pointed to De La Cruz, Stewart and catcher Tyler Stephenson as examples of what worked.
“We brought in players that didn’t necessarily fit that philosophy," Krall said. "We need to make sure we give those guys better players for them to develop.”
That will take more than one move, because the roster has several holes to patch. Stephenson is headed for free agency, and the club also needs help in the outfield.
Bleday, who hit a career-high 24 homers, was much better against right-handers than lefties. Dane Myers, a right-handed hitting center fielder, fared better against lefties than righties.
McLain, meanwhile, had an OPS more than 200 points better against lefties (.777) than righties (.552).
Meador said the Reds also need a clearer team-wide offensive identity.
“I think we need to get back to messaging of the team offense," Meador said. "I think we emphasize - and probably overemphasize - impact, both as a front office and to our players last year leaving going into the offseason.
It needs to be more balanced. We need to be better at controlling the zone, getting on base, taking care of runners when they’re on base, making sure that we’re getting them in.
“That starts with having tougher at-bats, but also in our work and preparation every day, what that looks like. That’s all stuff we’ve had a lot of discussions around. It does need to be a focus.”
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Sal Stewart gave the Reds exactly the kind of rookie season that usually forces people to pay attention, because he was in the lineup every day and produced like a middle-of-the-order bat. He hit 32 home runs, drove in 111 runs and played all 162 games, numbers that made him one of the most valuable young players in the league and a serious National League Rookie of the Year candidate.
So it was no surprise to see some pushback when media rankings slotted him lower than many Reds fans expected, with concerns tied more to defense and base running than to what he did at the plate. For Cincinnati, though, the larger picture is pretty simple: Stewart looks like a cornerstone moving forward, and the debate over where he lands on a rookie list says more about outside evaluation than it does about the kind of impact he already had. [Read more 🡒]
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Reds Still Have One Costly Problem The Front Office Must Fix
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The trade route may be where the Reds can actually make a meaningful upgrade, especially if clubs with infield depth decide to reshuffle their plans. Names such as Isaac Paredes and Brett Baty fit into that broader search, and recent organizational changes with the Astros and Mets could open doors that were not there before. For a team trying to build around pitching and run prevention without leaving too much offense on the table, third base has become one of the more important puzzles to solve. [Read more 🡒]