6:10pm: Bell conceded this evening that McLain will not be available on Opening Day (via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). He’s headed for a second opinion to determine the extent of the injury but now seems likely to at least begin the season on the injured list.
12:44pm: Reds infielder Matt McLain was scratched from the lineup Monday due to some discomfort in his left shoulder, prompting the club to have an MRI performed. While the team hasn’t divulged anything conclusive yet, manager David Bell provided an ominous update Wednesday, telling the Reds beat that the MRI found “something” and that the team is still gathering information and determining how to proceed (X link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). There’s an unusually broad range of outcomes at this point, as Bell didn’t firmly rule out McLain for the Opening Day roster but also acknowledged that there’s a “possibility” of shoulder surgery.
The 17th overall pick in the 2021 draft, the now-24-year-old McLain made his big league debut in 2023 and immediately made an impact. In 89 games and 403 trips to the plate, he slashed .290/.357/.507 (128 wRC+) with 16 homers, 23 doubles, four triples and 14 stolen bases (in 19 tries). His 7.7% walk rate was a bit lower than average, while his 28.5% strikeout rate was well north of average.
McLain had some good fortune on balls in play (.385 BABIP), though some of that lofty BABIP is attributable to a huge 24.2% line-drive rate and strong 42.8% hard-hit rate. It’s still fair to project some regression in his performance, but even if he’s not hitting at the borderline star-caliber level he did in 2023, McLain has the look of an everyday fixture in the Reds’ lineup due both to his bat and his defensive versatility.
Though McLain was drafted as a shortstop, he split hit time between the two middle infield slots. Bell suggested earlier in camp that McLain was likelier to focus on second base this season. Elly De La Cruz is expected to take the lion’s share of reps at shortstop, though McLain could slide to that side of the bag in the event of further injury troubles for De La Cruz.
The Reds have a noted infield surplus which was only deepened when they signed Jeimer Candelario to a three-year deal over the winter. An 80-game PED suspension for promising 22-year-old Noelvi Marte has thinned out the perceived logjam a bit, and an absence for McLain would lend further clarity to the division of playing time around the diamond. As it stands, Candelario appears lined up for regular work at the hot corner, with De La Cruz at short, McLain at second, Christian Encarnacion-Strand at first base and Spencer Steer in left field. Former NL Rookie of the Year Jonathan India has been expected to bounce between second base, first base and designated hitter, though he could certainly reclaim regular playing time at second base if McLain heads to the injured list.
McLain picked up 140 days of major league service time in 2023, leaving him a bit more than a month shy of a full year (172 days). That means the Reds still have six full seasons of control over him, though he’ll very likely wind up reaching Super Two status and thus be eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three. The first of those four offseasons of arbitration eligibility would fall after the 2025 campaign. On his current trajectory, McLain wouldn’t qualify for free agency until the 2029-30 offseason.
He’s already falling into the category of players who are good, but are always hurt half the time.
“60% of the time, it works every time.”
He’s played basically two years of pro ball and you already jumping to that conclusion after a two injuries in spring training lol
Falling = in the process of.
Meaning at this rate he has already missed time for 2 different injuries and if this trend continues with him, we’ll have another Mitch Haniger on our hands, which is a shame because Haniger had lots of potential but rarely could stay healthy for an entire season.
Friedl, Marte, McClain….
and Williamson, Lodolo, Martinez, Gibalt, Young….
Is nick martinez hurt too??
Right ribs, TBD
Lodolo is expected to be back April 10th, he’ll just miss a couple turns through the rotation. Whoever wins their 5th starter role is a placeholder until then. Martinez is expected to be in their Opening Day rotation.
Gibaut also is back to pitching probably no more than a week or 2 behind. I cannot believe they signed Candelario. What a waste of money. Just because Friedl, McLain. & Marte are out- no reason to sign a switch hitting veteran in his prime who can defend multiple positions! Should have spent that money on Sonny Gray(whoops).
Senzel is the one that come up first in my mind.
Marte isnt injured
Just a dumb kid
either way he’s not available
Crazy thing is reds have insane depth. And so many guys in the farm system that are ready for the majors. They might not field the best team possible opening day but they have alot of solid guys that can fill-in
It’s been a tough month for the Reds. That young team will definitely be tested out of the gate.
I am rooting for the Cubs, but feel really bad for Reds’ fans.
Thanks, but no need to feel bad for us. It’s baseball and things happen. Not one of us is tossin in a towel…
Jonathan India, welcome back to full-time play at second.
Yep. It appears McClain is going to be Senzel all over again. The bad thing is that India is hurt a lot himself.
The difference is that McLain has already proven himself to be valuable at the major league level. It’s too early to label him as injury prone in my opinion, nevermind Nick Senzel 2.0
He had been suffering oblique injuries, late last year and early this spring.
All those infielders and the Reds are down to only one SS.
They got rid of three infielders recently too.
Arroyo isn’t that far away. He is likely the Red’s future SS anyway.
Arroyo might very well be the future but I doubt they’d rush him to split time with De La Cruz. He’s only played 4 games above A ball.
If McLain’s out they’ll probably pluck someone off a minors deal to back up SS for the time being.
More than likely, but he needs to succeed at AA and AAA first. He has only played 4 games at AA.
I agree as well. The Reds won’t need to be in any rush if all the injuries keep occurring. ,Plus, it gives them time to determine if De La Cruz can play SS.
When Arroyo comes up, EDLC is your RF. He hss a Dave Parker type arm.
That would solve some of the OF problems offensively since he is a SH. A lot at several positions depends on how the youngsters do with the bat. Time always tells the truth, so we will see. A bunch of them have a lot of potential.
Arroyo had surgery and is out for the year already.
Man the baseball gods came with a vengeance for how the front office did Votto
Is it too late to trade for Votto?
He recently hand-wrote a letter apologizing to Canada:
theconversation.com/joey-vottos-handwritten-apolog…
Thank you, YankeesBleacherCreature, for link to interesting article. In addition to being about one of my favorite baseball players, the article talks about how writing in cursive can communicate in ways that keyboards can’t. I personally don’t like reading or writing cursive, but Votto’s handwritten apology to his mother country does seem even to me more sincere than if written on a keyboard.
If they’d like to send Lodolo to the Astros, they could get Pena in return. Fair swap
No bueno.. gracias..
Please don’t be Senzel 2.0
McLain can actually hit MLB pitching.
Senzel was a pretty decent platoon guy last year against LHP
McLain did more in one year than Senzel had in his entire career such a jump in logic that because one injury he’s going end up like Senzel
Lol you seem oddly mad about my comment. I didn’t say he IS Senzel 2.0. I said I hope he isn’t, in the sense that Senzel was always getting hurt. This also isn’t McLain’s first injury. Or did you forget he missed the last month of the season last year? I didn’t think it was that difficult to understand my comment but you found a way!
Maybe they were right to keep 8 infielders.
Anyone have any idea of how this injury occurred?
He hadn’t played all spring. Injury from last season
Not true. Not sure why you’re so confident in posting that multiple times, but last year was an oblique injury. He has played this spring and he now has hurt his shoulder.
Because he’s barely played all spring. He’s 0-13. So when did he get hurt and on what play ? Or at what point in the offseason ? The info out of cincy camp is shaky to say the least.
I’ll just respond to your question and ignore the fact that you’re acting like you didn’t say it’s the same injury and he hasn’t played at all. Haha
It’s obviously something new that occurred once he started playing again. I don’t know when exactly, because Bally Sports Ohio is too cheap to televise spring training games so I couldn’t watch the games McLain played in. But it’s new. He was dealing with some oblique soreness, which is why he didn’t play at the beginning of spring training, but they straight up said this is a shoulder issue so that’s new and has nothing to do with last season.
You realize you can hurt your shoulder in the cage, moving a couch, sleeping….literally in any way that requires moving the joint, right?
Midget throwing contest. Ahahaha!
India is re-emerging as a major power.
Population around India’s neighborhood is falling
Fantasy Season washed away…
Clo – my team is taking a beating, too – Marte & McLain. Acquiring Wander Franco two weeks before his last MLB game isn’t helping, either.
I got Seager, Bradish, Gavin Williams, Taj Bradley, and Jhoan Duran on all my teams. I’m so desperate for pitching that I took deGrom, Scherzer, Woodruff, Buehler, and McClanahan as insurance for the 2nd half.
I guess signing Candelario and keeping India looks smart after all…
He looks terrible this spring but yea i guess he is a body
Hopefully Candelario hits more than a buck 25.
India looks good this Spring
Wheel’s are falling off..
Damn
Could push steer back to more time on the dirt. He’s gotten a few reps at 2B late last year and this spring
Reds plan for the first 60 days, according to Robert Downey Jr, “Survive.”
3 dudes carried over from being hurt last year. India Lodolo McClain yet none had surgeries. Not sure if I’ve ever seen the likes of anything like that before in baseball
India is healthy now and McLain’s injury now isn’t the same one he had last season
Sign Montgomery. he’s got the arm to play short.
The White Sox may want to keep Colson Montgomery for themselves for SS.
Keep that quiet, Mikenmn, from the Padres!
A reality show based on the Reds infielders should be a thing
Only 10 SS left.
Please, don’t call him Shirley
at this point any team that avoids a tsunami of injuries has a shot to win it all
He will be out for the year with surgery and then take all of next year to get back to being good again..tough luck for him and Reds fans…
Reds – get lost Barrero! No room
For you
1 suspension, 1 wrist, 1 shoulder later and that move looks dumber and dumber!
Why on earth did they cut bait on Barrero with 4 weeks in ST. Kralls been good but he dropped the ball on that move
They needed a roster spot to add Justin Wilson to cover recent LHP injuries in the bullpen. With the benefit of hindsight waiving Barrero probably wasn’t the right choice. Then again, it shouldn’t be that hard to find a replacement for Barrero’s production from among minor league signees. They’ll just need to open another roster spot to do it.
They kept Martini. That’s what is so odd. Second guessing is easy, but, really, wtf Barrero’s potential exceeds Martini’s ceiling, imo.
Barrero was out of options. Before the injuries and Marte’s suspension there wasn’t a fit for him on the big league roster. So they tried to pass him through waivers to send to the minors. Martini still has a minor league option. So does Bubba Thompson, who as it turns out was also good to hang onto, with the injury to TJ Friedl.
Honestly, Barrero’s ship sailed a long time ago and he is what he is. They sadly let a couple of other young players go before making the decision they should have all along. More seat of the pants moves with no overall plan, just like the failures to act last offseason and season.
They probably did that for Barrero’s benefit actually. Allowed him to hook on with someone quickly and the ST time to make the major league roster.
And now Texas needs to clear a roster spot for Michael Lorenzen. So Barrero could be on the move again.
Reds medical staff is well known to be incompetent, they have been called out before. This organization is a mess top to bottom. Why did they bring Lodolo back last year to get hurt again? Why does McClain also have the same injury as last year? Cannot make this up and some fans still think Nick Krall is their savior. At least im not them.
Except McClain doesn’t have the same injury as last year
don’t bring simple logic into this argument….
I struggle at that often, wvredsfan
What a shame,
Pirates 2024
Where’s the Ohtani article?
They have to translate it first.
Tony Kemp and Josh Harrison making a u-turn on the interstate.
Lol and the Reds thought they were too good for Votto.
huh? what does Votto have to do with this and how can a 40 year old .200 hitting DH help?
They put all their eggs in the basket of the newborn chicks. Not one guy on the team is proven. How does a 22 year old .230 hitter help? Don’t give me the whole potential speech, either.
Development my arse. This club couldnt ferment a fungus.
Reminds me a bit of tampa. All their pitchers go down with TJ
All reds hitters going down with something too
Good for him getting a second opinion. It is his career after all.