Biggest Concern for 2024 Cincinnati Reds Ahead of Opening Day

Opening Day is on Thursday afternoon.

Author:
Jeff Carr
Mar 27, 2024

In this story:

Cincinnati Reds

Spring Training

Reds Injuries

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds play the Washington Nationals on Thursday. Opening Day is a holiday in the Queen City. Some folks are worried about a myriad of things for the 2024 Reds, but one weakness stands out above the rest.

Let's start with the concerns, before we get to a weakness that could impact their success this season:

Pitching

Many fans are pinpointing Alexis Diaz, Andrew Abbot, or Hunter Greene as the subject of worry due to their spring training stats. Don’t do this. They’re fine. Greene was working one new pitches, Abbott made a slight tweak to his mechanics to increase his endurance for the season, and Diaz was just making sure he got his work in without risking injury. All three are fine, and so is the pitcher you’re worried about ahead of Oepning Day.

Injuries

This is a slight worry, but there’s a reason we were excited about depth to begin spring training. Now, the depth has disappeared because it’s already being called upon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t working for them. Another injury could really send things into a spiral, but as of right now the roster is ready to withstand significant injuries to key players like Matt McLain and TJ Friedl.

Fielding

This is where I am concerned. Players are usually working on something on the mound or at the plate in the spring. Fielding is simple: glove it, throw it, catch it. The Reds haven’t been very consistent with that this spring and you can be forgiven if you just say “they were bad at it.” Last year, fielding was a question mark. These position players are largely the guys the Reds will roll with for the foreseeable future. They have to improve this right away, or it will be a constant black hole that jeopardizes the team’s ambitions.

Jeimer Candelario has largely been average at third base. Jonathan India is a below-average defender at second base. Elly De La Cruz has the talent to be a gold glover at any position, but has not yet shown the type of consistency to warrant that type of consideration.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand has shown a good ability to field at first base, but in a very small sample size. The outfield leaves a lot to be desired defensively. This will be the biggest question mark on the Reds all season long.

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