February is now behind us and the first few weeks of spring training are behind us, but the teams have only been playing games for eight or nine days. The Cincinnati Reds are 4-3 after their seven games played. Not that records matter at all in spring training, and for the most part neither to the stats.
With that said, you still prefer to see the guys on the team you root for to be finding success rather than struggling, and the Reds certainly have their fair share of guys who are finding plenty of success early on.
The Hitters
No one on the Reds is having a better start at the plate this spring than Elly De La Cruz. The star shortstop spent the second half of last season playing with a tear in his quad and his numbers in the final few months just didn’t match what he had done in the first half. But so far, so good out in Arizona. He’s played in four games and has gone 6-12. All six of his hits have been extra-base hits as he’s picked up four doubles, a triple, and a home run. That’s led to a .500 average and a 1.250 slugging percentage. His six hits are tied for the team lead.
The player on the team that also has six hits is Matt McLain. In 2025 he was coming off of shoulder surgery and didn’t come close to replicating the success he had as a rookie back in 2023 before he suffered the injury in 2024’s spring training and missed the entire season. Like De La Cruz, McLain has played in four games and has gone 6-12. He’s also added in a walk, a double, and a home run to go along with his four singles.
JJ Bleday came over to the Reds this offseason on a 1-year deal, signing right after Christmas. The outfielder had a strong season in 2024 with Oakland, posting a 120 OPS+ and hitting a career best 20 home runs in 159 games played. But in 2025 he looked more like the hitter he was in 2022 and 2023, failing to play in 100 games and posting a below-average OPS+ (92 in 2025) for the third time in his 4-year career. In his three games so far he’s 5-9 with a double and a home run. He’s hit the ball quite hard so far, too. He’s had eight batted balls thus far and three of them are 109 MPH or higher, four are 100 MPH or higher, five are 97 MPH or higher, and six have been over 92 MPH.
Will Banfield is a non-roster invitee this spring. The 26-year-old catcher made his MLB debut last summer with the Reds and played in 10 games, going 1-10. He’s only had seven at-bats but he’s picked up three hits – all doubles – in that time and also drawn a walk. Like Bleday, he’s been making some hard contact. His double on Saturday had an exit velocity of 108.5 MPH. His other two doubles were 99.4 and 97.1 off of the bat.
Along with those guys, these players also have an OPS of 1.000 so far this spring: Rece Hinds (1.270, 9 plate appearances), Dane Myers (1.170, 11 plate appearances), Tyler Callihan (1.143, 7 plate appearances), Sal Stewart (1.098, 13 plate appearances), Leo Balcazar (1.000, 6 plate appearances), Michael Chavis (1.000, 9 plate appearances), and Jose Trevino (1.000, 6 plate appearances).
The Pitchers
Rhett Lowder is coming off of a 2025 season that saw him injured and rehabbing all year, making a handful of rehab starts in the minor leagues but dealing with multiple injuries that didn’t allow him to ever get off of the rehab assignments he had and never truly getting back on the mound. Now he’s in a battle for the final spot in the Reds rotation along with Chase Burns and a handful of other guys who feel like they need a lot to go right to pass up Burns or Lowder. So far we’ve seen Lowder pitch in two games. He leads the team with 5.0 innings and he’s allowed one run on two hits, two walks, and he’s tied for the team lead with seven strikeouts.
Jose Franco was the RedsMinorLeagues.com Pitcher of the Year last season as he split time between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville. His performance in 2025 earned him a spot on the 40-man roster in November. The right-handed starter has pitched in two games, throwing 3.0 innings while allowing three hits and a run. But he’s also walked no one and struck out seven of the 13 hitters that he has faced.
Nick Lodolo has only pitched in one game so far but the lefty looked real good in that one. He threw 2.0 shutout innings and allowed two hits, walked no one, and he struck out four.
The old saying goes that pitching is ahead of hitting early on in the spring as hitters search for their timing. That doesn’t appear to be the case right now for the Reds. The team is hitting .269/.328/.466 and a lot of guys are clobbering the baseball. On the flip side of that the Cincinnati pitchers have a 6.53 ERA and opponents are hitting .283/.375/.494 against them. The Cactus League is very hitter friendly this year at this point as nine teams have an OPS over .800 and five of those teams are over the .850 mark. Only two teams have an ERA under 4.50 and seven of the 15 teams are over 6.00.