CINCINNATI — TJ Friedl can’t return soon enough for the desperately woeful Reds offense.
The Reds went 13 up and 13 down over the first 4 1/3 innings Sunday, dropping their team batting average to a Major League-low .210 on the season. Nothing really came close to resembling a hit except for an Elly De La Cruz liner to deep left with one out in the fourth.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled with one out followed by a walk to Jonathan India. Nick Martini advanced them with a fly to center. But Santiago Espinal popped out to first and the groans could be heard all around GABP.
Good reason. Paying fans can see clearly what Cincinnati opposing pitchers can see, these Reds can’t hit. Baltimore starters this weekend held the Reds scoreless over 19 1/3 innings, allowing just six hits.
Skipper David Bell said before Sunday’s game that the team would sit down with their starting center fielder and discuss whether the time is right to activate him and put him in the lineup starting with Tuesday’s series opener against Arizona.
“There is a chance but I think it really just kind of depends,” Bell said. “We all are going to be involved in that discussion just from different experiences with it. But I think it matters a lot with TJ. So we’ll talk to him, see where he is. Of course, he wants to play. He wants to be here as quick as he can, but he wants to do it – and we’re gonna make him want to do it – in a healthy way when he’s ready. Of course, he wants to be here.”
Friedl certainly isn’t the end-all, be-all but certain players bring an energy to the everyday roster, an intangible quality. And Friedl has shown over his three previous seasons in the bigs, especially in 2023, that he possesses that quality.
Friedl was just 2-for-12 in his first three rehab starts for Triple-A Louisville. But if he signs off on it, his return Tuesday night could at least provide a jolt that a projected starter is back.
The Reds have featured Will Benson, Jonathan India and Stuart Fairchild as leadoff batters in Friedl’s absence. None have really stuck.
“It was a tough series. A tough little stretch for our team. It’s going to turn around. Not a whole lot more to say.” David Bell pic.twitter.com/jrgC7pWnmj
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) May 5, 2024
The short-handed Reds have been hitting like it lately, and everyone knows it.
“It was a tough series. A tough little stretch for our team. It’s going to turn around. Not a whole lot more to say,” said Bell, after his team was outscored 16-2 in the three-game sweep to Baltimore.
The big question is when will the reinforcements start?
The losses of Friedl, Matt McLain and Noelvi Marte have caught up to the Reds over this stretch, and the results have been historically bad.
The Reds were shutout in consecutive home games and nearly three straight before a one-run explosion in the ninth Saturday.
At .209, the Reds now have the worst batting average in MLB. And it's dropping fast. pic.twitter.com/fdFXtowmEz
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) May 5, 2024
Entering Sunday, they scored seven runs over four consecutive losses.
But this hasn’t just been a short-term issue. For the last three weeks, the Reds have send their collective team batting average drop by 25 points to .213 through Saturday. Not only is that third-lowest in baseball, it’s 22 points below what their opponents are hitting against them.
The offense that showed signs of treading water and riding the pitching staff for the first three weeks is starting to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Saturday night could’ve been a turning point. After being shutout for seven innings for the second straight night by a Baltimore starter, the Reds rallied for a run on a Spencer Steer one-out RBI single to right.
They loaded the bases with one out. But Christian Encarnacion-Strand struck out and Jeimer Candelario flew out to end the game.
The only thing the Reds are doing well this year offensively is stealing bases, and they’re doing that at a breakneck pace. On pace for 279, that would rank as fourth most in club history and the most since 291 in 1911.
But that’s is pretty pointless if you can’t get on consistently against pitching staffs that don’t issue walks. The Reds haven’t been dropping bunts or
In their defense, the Reds have faced the pitching staffs of Seattle, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
But as David Bell pointed out, if the Reds are going to be the team they think they are – a contending one – they need to start figuring out ways to put pressure on opposing pitchers.
“Of course we face good pitching and we’re going to continue to face good pitching the rest of the year, hopefully for months to come or playing important games against good teams with good pitching,” Bell said. “We know that, so of course that’s a part of it. We have to find a way to succeed for sure in those situations.”
Noelvi Marte is eligible to return from his PED suspension on June 27 and much farther down the road, Matt McLain (left shoulder surgery) is meeting with his surgeon on Monday and could return in August IF everything goes just right.
“All indications are that (the meeting will go well) so he’s doing well,” Bell said. “I think he may join us on the road (for Dodgers series May 16), which will be good to see him. Hopefully that happens a few times between now and when he comes back so that he just kind of gets re-acclimated to being around the team.”
Bell, sounding like a manager that wants to speak positivity into the baseball universe, said the club is hopeful for a McLain return in August.
“For sure, we’re confident,” Bell said. “I mean, it’s a significant injury and surgery so I don’t want to be overconfident or anything like that. But I think we’re all hopeful and there’s reason to be hopeful that he can be back. The best estimate is any date within August. Anything is a bonus there because he’s gonna be fine long term. That’s the main thing.”
The same cannot be said of the Reds if the offense doesn’t find a way to wake up out of their early-season doldrums.
The Reds are hopeful that reliever Ian Gibaut could work his way through a forearm issue that could be carpal tunnel-related. He has had to shut down his rehab twice because of forearm discomfort. If surgery is required, Bell said it’s an issue with minimal rehab and he could return to pitching this season. Brandon Williamson is expected to begin his rehab this week as he works on a path back from left shoulder strain. The left-hander felt something when he was pitching in a Cactus League game against Cleveland on March 17 in Goodyear. He has been pitching live in extended spring in Arizona and will leave there this week and begin his official rehab.
