PITTSBURGH –– Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India said the Reds’ hitters need to clear their minds. Reds manager David Bell said that the Reds have collectively been late with their swings on fastballs and early on off-speed pitches, and that they can make adjustments to fix those flaws. Reds outfielder Jake Fraley said the most important thing that the Reds hitters can do is keep a positive mindset and not let a tough stretch drag them down.
The Reds, who have started the year with a 7-15 record, know they need to find a way to stop this early-season slide.
“I don’t want this to sound like this is something like we’re accepting,” Reds manager David Bell said. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth. We’re fighting it and grinding. This is our livelihood. This is everything to us. At the same time, we have been here before and this is how the game works. You have to stay after it. We have a long, long way to go.”
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The young 2023 Reds season has had four stages. The team started the year with a 3-1 record, but then the bullpen had several meltdowns on a 1-5 road trip. Then the Reds’ rotation went through a bad week where the starting pitchers struggled going more than four innings in a start. Now, the offense isn’t producing.
The Reds had some of their best pitching of the season in Pittsburgh, and Hunter Greene pitched a gem on Sunday as he tried to stop the Reds’ five-game losing streak. But the Reds’ still lost 2-0, wrapping up a six-game stretch where they scored just six total runs.
“We just need to stick together,” India said. “Last year, everyone was for themselves. It was just a weird vibe in the clubhouse. This year, I think we have a good enough team to stay together and get through this. I think we’ll be fine.”
There’s no big change that could provide an immediate spark in the Reds’ season. The Reds won’t rush the timelines of top prospects and call them up before they’re ready. Reds first baseman Joey Votto spent the weekend training on his own in Cincinnati. Bell said that Votto is way ahead of schedule while noting that Votto’s injury sometimes takes a full year to come back from.
It’s up to a group of struggling hitters throughout the Reds’ order to make the necessary adjustments at the plate and figure out how to turn their individual seasons around.
“It’s our ability to choose how to react to what’s going on for everybody with their own performance but also collectively as a team,” Fraley said. “We’re battling. We haven’t had anything going our way for a lot of guys with hits falling or pitches being called a ball or a strike. For us, it’s trying to take little positives out of a (lousy) situation.”
When the Reds started last season with a 3-22 record, they were missing their ace, playing without half of their starting lineup and using three rookie starting pitchers. When the Reds finished last season with a 6-20 record over their final 26 games, they had to scrape together a starting rotation that included minor league free agents and converted relief pitchers to get through the end of the season.
The 2023 Reds have a 7-15 record following Sunday’s loss in a series sweep by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds are struggling when they’re as close to fully healthy as they’ll likely be all season.
They’re playing with the team that the front office built during the offseason, and the Reds’ outside additions haven’t provided much production. The Pirates, on the other hand, have a 16-7 record that’s been fueled by outside additions, veterans making an impact and a dominant bullpen that Pittsburgh has developed.
During the offseason, the Reds added Wil Myers, Curt Casali and Luke Maile. Myers has already moved down in the order due to a high strikeout rate and a lack of power. Casali and Maile have hardly contributed any production at the plate. While the Reds are still confident that their three-catcher system can help keep Stephenson fresh, two of the Reds’ three outside additions to their lineup are pinch-hit for almost every time they’re up in the order during a big spot in the game.
“It’s a game of adjustments,” Bell said. “You’re constantly looking to evaluate and do everything we can to help guys out there and give them a chance to succeed and win games. A big part of that typically, and something we’ve all experienced, is being consistent and trusting the process. Continuing to work and believing in what you’re doing.”
There hasn’t been a run of injuries or a trade deadline shakeup yet. Votto and relievers Tony Santillan and Tejay Antone are the only established big leaguers on the injured list for the Reds. None of those three players were expected to be ready for the start of the regular season, and none of them has a set return date.
The Reds are playing with the full-strength roster that they anticipated having for the start of the season. The Reds are only 22 games into the year, but the season has already reached a turning point.
“It’s up to every single person,” Fraley said, “To choose to respond in the correct manner to what’s happening and look back at what might not have worked last year with individual performances and (capitalize on) what we were doing as a team from a culture standpoint. You can take from it and learn from last year, but you got to learn how to take positives out of (lousy) situations and make sure you respond in the correct manner.”
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