The Reds have their leadoff/CF guy back in a big, big way.
You may not immediately jump at the chance to call the 2024 season a ‘nightmare’ for TJ Friedl, but I bet TJ Friedl himself would.
He broke his right wrist while attempting a diving catch in CF for the Cincinnati Reds late in spring training while still in camp in Goodyear, Arizona. That meant his season began on a rehab note, something that became even more frustrating when he broke his left thumb almost immediately after returning from the wrist injury.
His right wrist, his left thumb…literally both hands had fractures within a two-month period last year. Imagine trying to eat your soup, brush your teeth, wash your hair, text your mom with that kind of luck, let alone imagine trying to roll right back into hitting big league pitching that’s had two months of the season to fine-tune itself.
As if that weren’t awful enough, he hit the IL again with a hamstring injury that would haunt him for the rest of the campaign, sapping him of the speed and quickness both in CF and on the bases – you may well forget he flirted with a 30 steal season back in 2023.
The TJ Friedl we’re beginning to see now in 2025 looks way, way more like that 2023 vintage that a) led the Reds in WAR (~4) and b) damn nearly had a 20/30 season. That could not have been any more on display this week in Atlanta when Friedl socked a pair of homers off Braves starter Grant Holmes – one on an 84 mph cement-mixing breaking ball, the other on a 95 mph heater.
Friedl, who entered play on Sunday sporting a .358 OBP that bests even the .352 he posted during 2023, has evolved right back into that prototypical leadoff guy once again. And when he flashes the kind of power he put on display in Atlanta, well, that’s good enough to take home the Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Player of the Week award.
He’s a steal of an asset for the Reds right now. A player with a 4 WAR season under his belt who’s making league minimum and bouncing right back after an injury-plagued season? That’s invaluable, especially when it comes with defense that’s rated in the 84th percentile by OAA while playing CF – one of the most vital spots in the game.
Congrats to TJ, and here’s hoping he keeps right on truckin’ this season!