Someone had to take one of the Reds' outfield spots; JJ Bleday just had to be patient

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsMLB Season JJ Bleday hit two home runs and drove in six in the Reds' 15-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday. Andy Lyons / Getty Images Share articleCINCINNATI — There were days when JJ Bleday called his agent and wondered why someone else got the call-up to the big leagues and not him. There were days, too, when his wife did the same. “There’s always that,” Bleday said Thursday. “Especially when you have a wife and baby, you’re living in hotel rooms.” Though the Bledays aren’t exactly looking for real estate in Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky, they should feel comfortable setting up here for the rest of the season. After he started the season in Triple A, Bleday’s first two-plus weeks back in the big leagues have been exactly what he and the Cincinnati Reds had been looking for: a steady outfield bat in the lineup. Bleday hit two home runs and drove in six in the Reds’ 15-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday and is hitting .321/.455/.755 with six home runs and more walks (13) than strikeouts (10) in his 16 games with the Reds. “He’s given us a big lift,” Reds manager Terry Francona said Thursday. “You’re pulling for everybody, obviously, but when a guy comes up, and it looks like it’s real and you see it, that makes you feel good.” The Athletics non-tendered Bleday less than two weeks after the birth of his first child, and he signed a one-year deal with the Reds a month later. The fourth pick in the 2019 draft out of Vanderbilt, Bleday hit 20 home runs for the A’s in 2024 but struggled in 2025, hitting just .212 and spending time in the minor leagues. The Reds entered the offseason looking for outfielders, not only signing the left-handed Bleday, but also trading for the right-handed Dane Myers. The team moved Noelvi Marte from third base to right field in July and told all of the team’s outfielders there was an open competition during spring training to join TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer. The additions of Eugenio Suárez and Nathaniel Lowe squeezed the roster for the outfield candidates, Bleday, Marte, Myers, Will Benson and Rece Hinds. Marte had the least impressive spring numbers of the group, but the incumbent still had a .777 OPS in spring. Bleday (1.047), Hinds (1.414) and Myers (1.000) all had an OPS better than 1.000 in spring, and Benson wasn’t that far off at .962. When the final decisions were made, Benson, Friedl, Marte, Myers and Steer made the team out of spring training. Hinds and Bleday were told they were headed to Triple A and that they hadn’t done anything wrong; the Reds just wanted them to play every day in Louisville and be ready when the call came. Marte struggled early and was sent down after his first 11 games, going 4-for-29 with 10 strikeouts and two walks. When Marte was optioned April 13, Hinds had five homers and a 1.246 OPS. Bleday had a .922 OPS and two homers. The call went to Hinds. “The decisions they made, that’s on them,” Bleday said. “I just had to continue whatever I was doing down in Triple A and just be ready. That was really the only way to go about it.” If baseball teaches players nothing else, it’s that sometimes in life you can do things perfectly and not be rewarded. Even as the words leave his mouth, Bleday is quick to add the caveat that he knows it’s a cliche, but the game teaches that they can only control what they can control. Sometimes you hit the ball on the screws and straight at a fielder. Sometimes a broken bat yields a hit. “There’s definitely times I’ve let it affect me with the A’s or previously in my career,” Bleday said. “It’s just trying to put yourself in a good mindset and be where your feet are and lean on those experiences and try to come out on top. You have to just trust yourself, trust that everything’s going to be OK, and put them in a tough position to make a decision.” The decision came April 25 when Suárez went to the injured list with an oblique injury, and Bleday was called up. At the time, Hinds had struggled with the Reds, going just 4-for-28 with 14 strikeouts, one walk and no homers. At Triple A, Bleday had put up a 1.120 OPS and hit six homers in 104 plate appearances. Bleday said he’d used the team’s choices as a chip on his shoulder, but he was more determined to prove himself right than prove others wrong. Reds reliever Tejay Antone also thought he’d had a good enough spring to make the Reds’ decision difficult, but he’s also been around long enough to know these decisions aren’t easy or based solely on spring training results. Antone’s first Triple-A appearance came in 2016, the same year Bleday graduated high school. He’s seen many talented players in Triple A handle similar situations the right way and the wrong way. Bleday, Antone saw, did it the right way. “You can have a chip on your shoulder and (be) mad about the decision that’s made, and then you’re late to practice, you’re not working extra. JJ is all pro,” Antone said. “Everything about him is pro. I’ve watched him do it. He shows up early. He gets extra work in. He shows up every single day, works his butt off. I mean, that is one of the most pro major-league players I’ve ever seen, and he does it every day.” Now, Bleday is doing it every day for the Reds, giving the team the steady at-bats it needs. “He had whatever struggles he had in Oakland, (but) I think our guys did a really good job of signing him because he’s obviously helping us,” Francona said. “I don’t think it’s a fluke.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms