Go TJ!
Was it a good week for the Cincinnati Reds as a whole?
No. No, it was not.
The Reds wrapped the week by blowing an 8-3 lead to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday in a game they ultimately dropped by the score of 11-8. That was eerily similar to Friday evening’s contest in which they led 4-0 early, 6-2 during the middle of the game, and ultimately lost going away 13-6.
They lost a home series to the Cubs, which sucks – that’s the cream of the crop in the National League Central this year, and that’s no way to pursue them. That came on the heels of losing a series on the road to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are decidedly not the cream of any crop this year, or any year. All after the optimism that came with sweeping the Cleveland Guardians at home last weekend.
Someone who was good for the Reds, though, was leadoff man TJ Friedl, who went 9 for 22 with a trio of walks and 5 runs scored for Cincinnati over the course of the week. Sunday’s 2 for 4, BB performance ran his season OBP all the way up to .367 for the season, the kind of production from the top spot of the order that’s the apple of any manager’s eye.
In fact, entering Sunday’s contest (in which he was on base a trio of times), Reds leadoff hitters owned a .375 OBP overall on the year – good for third best in all of baseball. And yeah, the bulk of that heavy lifting has been done by TJ all season.
After a debilitating 2024 season in which Friedl injured just about every single thing he possibly could, it’s refreshing as hell to see him be the player in 2025 that he pretty much was in 2023 before all that. Prior to Sunday’s action, his 1.1 fWAR was actually tops among all Reds position players, and was back on the ~4 WAR pace he flashed during said 2023 breakout.
Congrats to TJ on doing what he can – and precisely what’s been tasked – to help this Reds offense turn the corner. He’s the Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Week for the Reds this week.