Reds Beat: Appreciating Jacob Hurtubise, Stuart Fairchild As TJ Friedl Readies To Return Again

CINCINNATI — TJ Friedl is expected to return from his second hand injury of the season sometime this weekend or early next week.

The news was surprisingly good on the Reds outfielder Monday as he began to take swings in the cage pre-game and hitting off a speed machine, with a eye on a return either this weekend in Chicago or next week in Colorado.

David Bell has had his hands full trying to keep his ship afloat in incredibly rough seas, missing 47 games from his starting center fielder. That’s not including 18 from Christian Encarnacion-Strand and 53 from Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain.

When Friedl went down a second time, it coincided with CES on the DL with a broken right hand, meaning Spencer Steer had to move from left field to first. Bell suddenly had two gaps in the outfield to fill.

Enter 26-year-old Jacob Hurtubise and 28-year-old Stuart Fairchild. They are by no means stars or projected pillars of the Reds foundation for the future, at least not yet. They could certainly evolve. But as the Reds wait on their four core players to return – TJ Friedl, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain – the Reds will need to maximize the talents of the depth of their organization if they are to make the playoff run that everyone in the clubhouse believes is coming in the second half.

While Will Benson certainly still figures prominently in Bell’s plans, Hurtubise and Fairchild were not expected to see the kind of playing time when they reported to camp in February.

Hurtubise’s story has been well-documented, a 39th round pick out of the United States Military Academy in 2019, the left-handed hitting outfielder is the first Army grad to make it to the Majors.

He’s been more than an asterisk. Hurtubise handled himself very competently in left and – after just two hits in his first eight games – hasn’t hurt the Reds with his play in left. In the last four games, Hurtubise has five hits in 13 at-bats and has raised his average to .280.

His single Saturday night provided key insurance in a 3-1 win. Most importantly, Hurtubise – who has worked his way from Single-A Dayton to Triple-A Louisville in four seasons – has handled himself admirably at the top of the order, allowing Bell to slide him right into Friedl’s role without the need of totally juggling the lineup.

“Just kind of as we talked about within the organization, nothing has changed for him,” Bell told me before the series opener with the Cards. “I really don’t think anything competitive is ever going to be too big for Jacob. He’s just a player that knows himself. He’s very fundamentally sound. He’s athletic. He’s fast.

“He knows himself. He knows the strike zone. He’s still a young player. Obviously he just got here so not to put too much on here but I do feel like he can handle a lot. And I wasn’t hesitant to put him at the top the order. He’s kind of showing what he’s capable of. He gets the job done.”

Hurtubise drove in the Reds’ third run Monday when his bad hop grounder skipped over the glove of Paul Goldschmidt for a two-base error, scoring Jonathan India. He didn’t get credit for the RBI but made the kind of contact that is expected from a top-of-the-order batter.

As for Fairchild, he is slashing at a modest .232/.318/.389 but with four homers, including a solo shot Friday night off the foul pole in left that rallied the Reds back from 5-3 down. But even bigger were his two Gold Glove-caliber plays in center to rob the Dodgers, including a HR-saving job on Will Smith.

“It’s definitely a team effort,” Bell added. “Depth is important. Having a group of players that may not be playing every day that stay ready for their opportunity. You know down deep that like when you lose players to injury, it hurts. For those (injured) players, it’s gonna hurt your team and it’s going to show up at some point. But you also realize like, good things can come out of that.

“And once we get guys back, we’re going to be even stronger because it creates opportunity for guys like Stuart, who has played great, and Jacob and several other players So, in the end, we’re going to be stronger through it. So we guys have stepped up, they’ve been able to show what they can do.”

Notes:

TJ Friedl BP:

TJ Friedl, who broke his left thumb on May 12 when he was hit by a pitch in San Diego, took live batting practice Monday and will be “ramping up his hitting” in the next couple of days, per Bell. He will not need a minor league rehab and Bell said he could join the Reds this weekend in Chicago or next week in Denver.

Carson Spiers to Triple-A:

The right-hander couldn’t have done much more to impress David Bell and GM Nick Krall than what he did against the Dodgers Sunday, relieving winner Nick Martinez and getting the Reds pen to the ninth inning, when he tired and gave up a run. But still 3 1/3 strong innings proved valuable in the 4-1 win. But as is often the case, managing MLB rosters is a numbers game dictated by options. Spiers had an option and was sent to Louisville to make way for Nick Lodolo to come off the IL and start Monday. Spiers appeared in four games, throwing 13 2/3 innings, allowing 15 hits and six runs – five earned. He struck out eight (including Shohei Ohtani Sunday), walked three and hit a batter.

“It’s just more about our roster,” Bell said. “It was tough because he’s done really well here and Carson and just continues to make improvement just getting more and more comfortable here. Yeah, I mean we think the way he’s pitching you can help us win that was the tough part on the other side of it. It was the best thing for our team right now.

“And also he can continue that development, continue improving and getting back into the rotation in Triple-A, which could come up to be important. He could come back at any point, and it can be as a starter or it can be as a reliever. Just a quality, well-rounded baseball player, like personally, just really fits right in on this team. Really like a lot the way he’s developing (and) couldn’t be any better. So he’s come a long way and I think it’s really just the beginning.”

Brandon Williamson getting closer:

The left-hander – out since March 17 with left shoulder soreness – will throw 50 pitches or three innings for Triple-A Louisville Tuesday as the Reds continue to stretch him out and have him ready as an option, should he be needed down the road. Bell also indicated Monday that Emilio Pagan (right triceps tightness) will begin playing catch this week as he works his way back while lefty Justin Wilson (left shoulder tightness) threw another side Monday in his rehab process.