Reds center fielder TJ Friedl sustained a broken left thumb and has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Cincinnati recalled outfielder Jacob Hurtubise from Triple-A Louisville to take the open roster spot.
It’s a tough blow for Friedl, who only returned from the IL last week. The 28-year-old missed the season’s first six weeks after breaking his wrist during Spring Training. He played six games and tallied 24 plate appearances before being hit by a Kyle Harrison pitch leading off yesterday’s game against the Giants. Friedl came out of the game, with Will Benson sliding from right to center field in his place. Jake Fraley came off the bench to man right field.
Friedl was one of the Reds best players in 2023. He frequently occupied one of the top two spots in the batting order and turned in a .279/.352/.467 line across 556 plate appearances. Friedl connected on 18 home runs and stole 27 bases while playing solid center field defense. It was borderline All-Star production overall, making him a key contributor to a Cincinnati team that came up just shy of the postseason.
They’ll now be without Friedl for another undetermined period of time. Benson and Stuart Fairchild took the majority of the center field reps early in the season. Neither player has provided much offensively. That has contributed to a lack of production throughout the lineup. Cincinnati ranks 28th in on-base percentage and 26th in slugging despite playing in one of the sport’s most hitter-friendly home parks.
Hurtubise, 26, joins the outfield mix for the first time. A West Point graduate, he signed with the Reds as an undrafted free agent in 2020. Despite lacking much prospect fanfare, he played his way onto the 40-man roster last winter thanks to huge on-base numbers in the minors. While Hurtubise has almost no power, he’s a .295 hitter with a .434 OBP in parts of four minor league seasons. He has stolen 102 bases and has nearly as many walks as strikeouts in his professional career.
The left-handed hitter adds a contact and speed element to David Bell’s bench. Hurtubise has experience at all three outfield positions, though Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote last month that he’s best served in left field.
When it rains…
It’s the only time the Reds don’t lose.
Friedl seems fragile
Yeah, that pansy can’t even take a 90mph heater off the thumb without it breaking…
Friedl fragiler than Frito chips.
Wow, this player received a military deferral to get a pro athlete contract. Hit and running tools, but no power.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t traditionally present power in centerfield, just like second base, shortstop, or catcher. It was just rare exceptions and the steroid era that makes people think that, especially stat boys.
Manny: I was wondering how someone who went to a military academy for four years got out of military duty. You can leave after two years without having to serve.
Avenger
mlb.com/news/reds-jacob-hurtubise-knocking-on-door…
No power? He hit 18 in 138 games last year. That’s not bad for a leadoff hitter.
Padam
I am talking about Hurtubise, you are talking about Friedl.
mlb.com/prospects/reds/jacob-hurtubise-674441
Tough break for Friedl after just coming back, but really excited for Hurtubise to finally get his MLB debut. Dude is a 39th round pick out of West Point. Hit .330 between AA/AAA and led the minors in OBP with a .479 rate last year.
45 SBs last year too. Dude could be a really solid 4th OFer. Barely has any pop in the bat though.
I think he forewent the draft and the Reds signed him in 2020.
Reds will continue to run a Benson out who is not hitting his weight instead like before and watch him keep flailing.
He needs sents down. Call someone up like Levi Jordan who’s swinging a hot bat.
Literally….
Time to bring back Votto?
They could acquire him probably in exchange for 2 of their best prospects. Or just for De La Cruz alone.
Trojan: Acquire him for who? Isn’t Votto a FA?
Joey is under contract with the Blue Jays
He’s also slowly working his way back from an ankle injury, and last time I checked he hadn’t quite started facing live pitching yet, so he’s no help in the near term. As it stands I don’t think Ford is much of a step down from ’22-’23 Votto anyway, the splits are more severe but the potential for power production is similar.
Per MILB stats, no minor league at-bats for Joey Votto just yet.
I think at least one of Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain – if not both – will be ready by the time Joey is ready.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Reds try to acquire Votto, not to help the offense, but to draw crowds. The second half will be ugly at the turnstiles. If they do, I hope Joey refuses to report and retires.
Right, they don’t deserve Joey after the despicable way they treated him. He should tell them to shove it.
Votto’s been “day-to-day” the last two months with an ankle injury.
Fake news, Yahoo fantasy news told me it was just a contusion and he would not need an IL stint.
Do better, MLBTR.
The Reds cant read an x ray because thats 2 in a week they got wrong. MLBTR is correct and you sir should’ve done more research before criticizing and telling someone to “do better”. You need to do better.
Bruh.
The Reds have the most incompetent medical staff in baseball. It’s been going on for years.
What the F are you going on about here? They took an X-Ray in SF and it was inconclusive so they took another one and found the break. How is that incompetent? Sometimes breaks don’t show up right away. Especially small ones.
The CES issue was it showed no break because there was a previous undiagnosed break that did not affect him. It can happen that a previous break hides the new one. You think they purposely made him play knowing there was a new break. How effing deluded are some of you.
The criticism of this organization for not putting players on the DL faster is valid. But it’s usually for mild strains or stuff that can heal in 3-5 days. Not for breaks.
The Reds initially said the X Rays were negative. One hour later, they changed it to inclusive. Today he has a broken thumb.
Fractures don’t show up right away. A week later they show up like a lightning bolt. How do I know? Walked around on a broken leg for a week before I couldn’t hack the pain and went back to ER Doctor showed me the X-ray. First one nothing, second one had a big white streak across the bone. From no break to a hip to ankle cast. It isn’t hard to miss it if it’s only just happened
Which is fine. Then don’t say anything.
So when the press asks about an injury, which is their job, the Reds should say … we dunno
Yeah ok
poor guy. can’t catch a break
Thumbs up for that one..
ouch
Well the test results went from negative, to inconclusive to broken. Cracker jack Red’s medical team.
At least they didn’t wait a week to make a move as usual bedore determining if it was broke or not.
I was joking with my wife last night if Bell was missing because they needed help reading the x-ray.
Yeah, unlike Castellanos’ injury in 2021.
Is it just me or is this guy always injured? I empathize because the Cubs are getting brutalized too and have 7 more games to play in a row before a day off. 26 games in 27 days. Cubs have been pretty lucky and are winning with mirrors or something. The whole league is injured. Yeah let’s start out in the middle of March every year, Great idea.
we need a right-handed hitting outfielder, not a leftie. we have plenty of those.
They should have taken care of that in the offseason, like the bullpen.
They should have taken care of it this past off season. Now they will have a fire sale in a couple of months.
@This one: who do you think they will move?
My guess is they will move Montas, Martinez, Pagan, Diaz, Fraley, CES (although it may not be until the off season), and India.
I think they will draft a First Baseman with the second overall pick or draft an Outfielder and move Steer to 1B.
You may not be far off. CES is the only one of that bunch I think they may hold on to.
Then those who worship at the altar will say they got such great prospects while the can is kicked down the road until after Elly, McLain, and the rest are gone to the big cities.
I thought it was a bit odd when Charles Goldsmith mentioned CES as a trade candidate last week. Personally, I wouldn’t trade him at this point, if for no other reason is they would be selling low.
Ideally, they will trade some of the players on short term deals. I would fire Bell and the coaching staff. Then start with a clean slate next season. This season is lost I’m afraid.
I fully expect Bell will be the fall guy for the lack of planning.
I always prefer an old catcher as manager, as they understand position players and how to handle a pitching staff. Maybe I’m just biased there.
I don’t see a firesale in the works but this latest wave of inuries does put contending this year in serious doubt. That begs opening up roster spots to see what Tony Santillan, Livian Soto, Blake Dunn, Carson Spiers, Lyon Richardson, . as well as Moll ,Young can do. Who really cares about the performance of Wilson, Farmer, Sims, and Pagan?