Ron Madden
10-02-2025, 07:51 PM
Closing The Book On The 2025 Cincinnati Reds
Despite playing their home games in the bandbox that is Great American Ball Park, they finished 21st overall in collective homers (167), their team’s 92 wRC+ 24th overall. They still couldn’t play defense (21st overall by FanGraphs’ DEF), and under Francona their aggression on the base completely dried up – their 105 steals in 2025 was 102 fewer than just last year.
Under hitting coach Chris Valaika – a former Cincinnati Red himself who was with Tito during their Cleveland run – the offensive emphasis became heavily focused on hitting line drives, hitting the ball the other way, and not trying to do too much at the plate. And as I look up and down the entire roster and compare what happened in 2025 relative to previous years, it’s hard to find a single hitter who really took a step forward under this system.
It was the kind of lackluster season from their position players that would’ve gone wholly unnoticed in other years, but got the spotlight put on it because the team’s starting pitching was so good that it dragged the rest of the club onto the biggest stage. Derek Johnson’s crew was, by and large, absolutely excellent, ranking 2nd overall in fWAR by SP behind only Philadelphia.
From a pure numbers perspective, it’s hard to believe this season will be one that gets talked about down the road with any true aplomb, even for a fanbase that’s had absolutely nothing to root for decade after decade.Continue Reading Complete Article Here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/closing-the-book-on-the-2025-cincinnati-reds/ar-AA1NKpks?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Despite playing their home games in the bandbox that is Great American Ball Park, they finished 21st overall in collective homers (167), their team’s 92 wRC+ 24th overall. They still couldn’t play defense (21st overall by FanGraphs’ DEF), and under Francona their aggression on the base completely dried up – their 105 steals in 2025 was 102 fewer than just last year.
Under hitting coach Chris Valaika – a former Cincinnati Red himself who was with Tito during their Cleveland run – the offensive emphasis became heavily focused on hitting line drives, hitting the ball the other way, and not trying to do too much at the plate. And as I look up and down the entire roster and compare what happened in 2025 relative to previous years, it’s hard to find a single hitter who really took a step forward under this system.
It was the kind of lackluster season from their position players that would’ve gone wholly unnoticed in other years, but got the spotlight put on it because the team’s starting pitching was so good that it dragged the rest of the club onto the biggest stage. Derek Johnson’s crew was, by and large, absolutely excellent, ranking 2nd overall in fWAR by SP behind only Philadelphia.
From a pure numbers perspective, it’s hard to believe this season will be one that gets talked about down the road with any true aplomb, even for a fanbase that’s had absolutely nothing to root for decade after decade.Continue Reading Complete Article Here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/closing-the-book-on-the-2025-cincinnati-reds/ar-AA1NKpks?ocid=BingNewsVerp