Spring training results are often difficult to read into, but analytics show tangible and meaningful development from McLain. After he statistically was a poor offensive player in 2025, McLain has addressed a lot of his weaknesses entering 2026.
He’s setting specific goals for this season, and they’re not correlated to numbers on the back of his baseball card.
“It’s little goals like swinging at a certain percentage of strikes in the heart of the zone early in counts,” McLain said. “I don’t want to strike out. Hitting with runners in scoring position is super important.”
With McLain set in the No. 2 spot, the rest of the top-half of the lineup falls into place.
Francona views center fielder TJ Friedl as an ideal leadoff hitter. Last year, Francona told him that he wanted to see Friedl on base twice a day, no matter how he did it.
During the season, three leadoff hitters in MLB reached base two-plus times in a game 77-or-more times: Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr. and TJ Friedl.
“TJ did a really good job,” Francona said. “I know it’s really hard to get on twice a game every day. If he’s on base, that’s going to lead to good things.”
While power can be a part of his game, his ability to take his hits the other day, his ability to bunt and his great eye at the plate makes Friedl a tough out.
“I want to continue to be the same guy,” Friedl said. “There’s not much to change. Not much difference in my approach. I’m fine-tuning a few things — driving the ball to left-center after I hit pop flies to left last year. I’m sticking to the same approach and the same mindset.”
McLain’s power has really shown up this spring. In the No. 2 spot, he has the upside to do significant damage and get rallies going before Elly De La Cruz and Eugenio Suárez step up to the plate. Also, as Friedl and De La Cruz are left-handed hitters, McLain’s ability to hit for power against left-handed pitchers can make a big impact against relievers late in games.
McLain has put his 2025 season behind him.
“I’m drawing confidence from this spring,” McLain said. “Little things I worked on all offseason like driving the ball the other way. Some of the approach stuff I wanted to nail, I wouldn’t really know how it went until I got into at-bats. First and foremost, I’m hitting the fastball. The breaking balls, I’m taking the good ones (from pitchers) and swinging at the bad ones (from pitchers). It’s as simple as that. If you build from there, you’ll like what happens.”
The Reds feel like they know what they’re going to get from the middle of their lineup. Elly De La Cruz will hit third. Eugenio Suárez and Sal Stewart will hit fourth and fifth, in either order. Terry Francona will finalize that decision on Thursday.
“We’ll see,” Francona said. “ I reserve the right to always make a lineup out that day. The reason we’ve been doing it is I think it sets Geno up to drive in more runs. With Elly hitting third, we separate maybe some strikeouts and also have a guy who can trail Elly. Geno can clean up some of the mess there (hitting fifth). That’s the idea.”
It says a lot about Stewart that he might hit cleanup as a rookie.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“It’s a pretty big compliment to Sal,” Francona said. “I still don’t know … I might change my mind on the airplane. But I think there’s a good reason for doing it.”
The Reds have a much deeper lineup than they had last year, and the order could include Steer, Tyler Stephenson and Noelvi Marte hitting in the bottom third of the lineup.
The bench also looks better as it could include impact role players like Will Benson, who crushes right-handed pitching, and Dane Myers, who crushes left-handed pitching.
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