Reds fans received some disappointing news regarding the status of center fielder TJ Friedl yesterday, as Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer relayed yesterday that the 28-year-old will need another 7-10 days of light activities before beginning to ramp up his rehab of a fractured wrist suffered during Spring Training last month.
No timetable for Friedl’s return to action was announced at the time of his injury, though Wittenmeyer indicates that Friedl was hoping to have been cleared for more activity at this point in the recovery process. Friedl is joined on the injured list by infielder Matt McLain, who is expected to miss much of the 2024 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in late March. Despite the lack of a clear timeline for Friedl’s return to action, it appears the club is hopeful he’ll be able to return sooner rather than later, as he has not yet been placed on the 60-day IL alongside McLain.
The losses of Friedl and McLain to open the season, along with Noelvi Marte’s absence due to an 80-game suspension following a positive PED test, have tested Cincinnati’s once-impressive positional depth early in the 2024 campaign. Those losses have left the Reds with a somewhat middling offense so far this season, as their 102 wRC+ entering play today ranked middle-of-the-pack in both the majors (14th) and the NL (7th). While youngsters like Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer have gotten off to phenomenal starts this season, other key hitters such as Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand have struggled badly to this point in the young 2024 season.
That uneven offense has thrust the club’s rotation mix into the spotlight. The club’s 4.11 starting ERA through their first 13 games this season is also middle of the pack, but the rotation corps received a major reinforcement today when the club announced that southpaw Nick Lodolo had been activated from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against the White Sox. Once a consensus top-40 prospect in the sport, the 26-year-old Lodolo delivered an excellent rookie season in 2022 but was limited to just 34 1/3 innings of 6.29 ERA baseball last year amid injury issues.
Fortunately for the Reds, it appears the left-hander is once again healthy as he dominated the White Sox to the tune of 5 2/3 scoreless innings where he allowed just one hit and one walk while racking up ten strikeouts. If Lodolo can continue to provide quality production for Cincinnati going…
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