One of the largest fanfests in baseball returned last weekend after a two-year hiatus. Over 21,000 Reds fans showed up to see their favorite players and talk baseball at the newly-renovated convention center in downtown Cincinnati. Redsfest always has something for every fan: numerous activities for kids, photos and autographs with current and former players, or checking out old Reds’ memorabilia.
The team introduction on the main stage Friday night is always a hit with fans, and the biggest cheers this year were for Elly De La Cruz (no surprise), Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, and Emilio Pagan. Watching the kids only press conferences is personally one of my favorite things to do at Redsfest. This year, Hunter Greene participated in one of them, and he took his role very seriously, giving a lot of thought to each kid’s question. His advice to one boy who asked, “What should I be doing now to prepare for baseball as I get older?” was “Just have fun at your age. As you get older, it will start to turn more into a business, so enjoy the sport now.”
The Reds also offered a number of question and answer sessions for season ticket holders, and I had the opportunity to listen in on a few of them.
Friday started off with a Q&A session involving Terry Francona, Sal Stewart, and Jose Trevino. While he got to tell a couple of fun stories, Francona did also have the typical answers an MLB manager would give the media about his team. He talked about wanting the guys to have fun, especially during the grind of the season. He is most excited about the upcoming season simply because he really likes the team. The guys they have are respectful, they are close to each other, and even through the tough times, they do it together.
The big question everyone wanted to know is if Stewart had really lost weight. It was one of the first questions moderator Jim Day asked and Stewart responded by saying his offseason goal was to get down to 215 lbs. He has hit that goal; now his focus is to maintain that weight for the season. Stewart has had long conversations with Francona about the upcoming season, and his main goal is to help the team win. He too said all the right things, including the quote, “Ever since I signed, my only focus is to continue to get better.” Stewart also said that he’s comfortable playing either first or third, but he feels most confident when he is in the field playing defense over being a DH. Ultimately, Stewart just wants to win and he’ll do what it takes to do so.
In terms of other MLB players he has looked up to, Manny Machado is one of those guys. Stewart has actually trained with him in the offseason, even going so far as to adopt Machado’s way of training, right down to having the same strength coach and mimicking certain lifts of Machado’s. Stewart is also very thankful for the older guys in the Reds organization, like Trevino, who look out for the rookies and help them adapt to big league life.
Later on Friday, I stumbled upon a Matt McLain Q&A session that John Sadak moderated. McLain was asked about what his focus is heading into spring training, particularly about his plan to rebound from a terrible season. He has been working on hunting his pitch early, and being more aggressive at the plate earlier in the count. That is what he intends to continue to work on through spring training.
On Saturday afternoon, Nick Krall, president of baseball operations, and Brad Meador, senior vice president and general manager were part of another Q&A session with season ticket holders. Many of the questions asked were about specific players. Most of the news has already been reported about those questions, but there were also a couple other notable highlights.
This Q&A session was a day after the Reds traded Gavin Lux, so naturally there was a question about that trade. Krall said, “I love Gavin, as a guy, as a clubhouse guy, and what he brings to the table, how he grinds at-bats, but at the end of the day, he struggled in left field. And I think the Rays were right, if he plays second base every day, he’s going to be a different player. Obviously, we have a second baseman in Matt McLain. He [Lux] struggled in left field and the only place we had him fitting was the platoon DH role and maybe a back-up infielder. Looking at the deal, it allowed us more positional flexibility and got us a left-handed pitcher that can get guys out at the end of the game and continued to reinforce our bullpen.” The deal also freed up about $3 million that the Reds will look to use to improve the club.
One of the biggest takeaways I got from hearing both the front office and Francona talk is that the Reds are all in on McLain as their second baseman despite his struggles in 2025. Krall made note that he is an above-average defender and when they moved on from Jonathan India, the Reds’ defense at second base got better with McLain. He said McLain has good bat speed, he’s got power; he just needs to get better at making contact and using the entire field.
Brad Meador confirmed that De La Cruz did want to play in the World Baseball Classic, but the Reds were concerned about him re-injuring his quad. After multiple conversations with him, they decided that it was better for him to not play and instead be ready for Opening Day, which Elly agreed to.
The final Q&A session I attended involved Brandon Williamson, Caleb Ferguson, and Jose Trevino. The most interesting question posed to them was about the different ways they prepare for a game.
Williamson is a very visual player. He likes seeing graphs and charts, and he’ll draw strike zone charts himself to be able to remember the hard-hit locations for individual players. “There’s a ton of information and I feel like you have to whittle away the things that clog you a little bit and you have to be able to funnel in the things that actually help you have success.” For him, cutting away the numbers and focusing more on the visual aspect of information helps to be able to see it when he’s on the mound.
Ferguson tries to keep it as simple as he can when he prepares. Baseball is a mental game, and if he keeps it as simple as he can, he finds himself having more success.
Trevino prides himself on his preparation as a catcher. When he has to make in-game decisions about what pitches would be best to throw to certain hitters, or if a team pinch hits for someone in game, he has to know the information quickly. He’ll start his scouting reports the night before and if necessary, finish them the morning before the game. It requires a lot of attention to detail and knowing the other team’s hitters inside and out. Sometimes analytics comes into plan, and sometimes in the middle of a game, “analytics need to go and we just need to go off our gut.”
The two players I enjoyed listening to the most last weekend were Jose Trevino and Sal Stewart. They really took the time to give honest answers, and you could see their true personalities come out as they interacted with both the fans and their teammates. Between those two and watching Hunter Greene’s genuine attitude towards both young and old fans, it reminded me that these players are humans with their own personalities and quirks, just like anyone else.
Redsfest is unique in that you get to see a different side of the players that you may not get to see on TV or in the post-game press conferences. They are more relaxed and because of that attitude, it’s evident that they truly do enjoy interacting with the fans. If you haven’t been, I would highly recommend making plans to do so next year. It really is the perfect way for any baseball fan to get their fix on a cold winter weekend.
BONUS CONTENT
Other fun tidbits learned about Reds players that you would only hear at Redsfest:
-McLain, Trevino, and Spencer Steer are the “instigators” or “pranksters” in the clubhouse.
-Trevino wants to catch a ball down the middle of the plate and then move his glove outside the strike zone just to test the new ABS system. He said “in the first game, probably.” He’s also willing to wear a microphone for the TV broadcast during a game.
-Hunter Greene is a foodie and loves to watch F1 races.
-Francona eats Uncrustables on the plane.
-Williamson wants to see the sleeveless pinstripe uniforms make a return.
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