CINCINNATI — The biggest criticism of the Reds offense in 2024 was that the fundamentals were critically lacking.
Not hitting behind the runner with a runner on second and none out. Unnecessarily running into outs on the bases. Not picking the right time to go from first to third. Making too many outs at third base unnecessarily. The biggest fault, repeating these errors time and time again.
The Reds did not have a fundamentally sound season at the plate or on the bases.
Under new skipper Terry Francona, the mission is to change that so that the dynamic potential of the young and talented lineup can be unleashed. To that end, the Reds and Francona welcomed Chris Valaika Thursday, as their director of hitting and Major League hitting coach.
That, combined with the healthy return of Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand and a full season from TJ Friedl and the Reds believe they can rocket to the top of the NL Central and return to the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2013.
There needs to be a message delivered starting in spring training that the 2025 Reds will play the game with a combination of intelligence and aggression.
“That’s going to be a big thing. I think that’s also a hallmark of Tito as well,” Valaika told me. “The teams that he’s managed, it’s about running the bases the right way. It’s playing clean baseball. It’s taking care of the baseball. So on the on the hitting side, I think that’s definitely going to be something that we’re going to stress. We can’t just talk about hitting with runners in scoring position. We’re going to have to work on it in spring training. We’re going to have to constantly be pushing the message in our daily work, in our in our BPs, during the season, two-strike approach.”
Valaika knows he’s inheriting a roster, like in Cleveland, that has talented and dynamic pieces. In Cleveland he helped develop the power stroke of contact hitter Steven Kwan and worked on the mental approach of the game with Jose Ramirez, helping him not take the weight of the team entirely on his shoulders.
With Cincinnati, he’ll be charged with helping Elly De La Cruz cut down on his strikeouts, refine his attack path in the strike zone (something De La Cruz made strides in in 2024), help Spencer Steer avoid prolonged slumps and collectively lead the Reds to be the perfect blend of power and speed that will remind Reds fans of the 1970s and the 1990 World Series champs. Those are lofty goals but Valaika knows this is a very gifted bunch.
“Again, I go back to being the baseball coach, it’s going to be about running the bases to (how) we’ve got to fight for second base. We got to give ourselves opportunities to drive those runs in. We have the pieces here. I think the more we can just lean into having that 9-on-1 mentality as a group every night, I think we’ll be in a really special place.”
Valaika not only has roots with the Reds as their third-round pick in the 2006 draft out of Cal Santa Barbara, he knows precisely how Francona likes to run his ship, having served as hitting instructor for the former Cleveland manager in 2022 and ’23.
Valaika continued that role this past season with the 2024 AL Central champs before being hired Thursday in Cincinnati. He also served as the assistant Major League hitting coach with the Cubs in 2021
The former infielder played in the majors with Cincinnati (2010-11), Miami (2013), and the Cubs (2014), appearing in 99 Major League games over four seasons.
“One of the biggest things, personally, is being able to come back to Cincinnati, somewhere that gave me an opportunity with with the draft, and gave me an opportunity to play in the big leagues,” Valaika said. “And then just the relationship with, with Tito, with Nick (Krall), with (assistant GM) Jeff Graupe, Jeremy Farrell, farm director.”
Valaika is clearly returning to a place where he already has a significant degree of comfort. Now his job is to make the players comfortable with him.
“I think the list goes on with just the familiarity I have there, and then just super-excited about the roster. Being across the the white lines, watching (the Reds) play, and the few games that we did see each other, it was a really exciting team, so I’m really excited to kind of jump into that, and hopefully start putting some of these pieces together, create some identity for this offense, something that I was really, really happy that I got to do in in Cleveland, that hopefully get to replicate that with a lot of these guys in in Cincinnati.”
Valaika was selected by the Reds in the third round (84th overall) of the 2006 draft out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was honored as the 2008 Cincinnati Reds Minor League Player of the Year after leading all Reds full-season minor leaguers with a .317 batting average. Valaika played for Team USA in the 2008 XM All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium.
The native of Santa Clarita, CA, joined the coaching ranks in 2017 following his retirement from playing following the 2015 season. Prior to joining the Cubs’ Major League staff, he was the organization’s Minor League Hitting Coordinator for 2 seasons (2019-20) following stints as the Hitting Coach for A-Eugene (2017) and AAA-Iowa (2018). Overall, Valaika spent 5 seasons coaching in Chicago’s organization.
