The Reds fielded an outfielder Blake Dunn on the injury list with elbow injuries, according to Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie’s Chalkboard. Taking his place on the active roster TJ Friedlrecalled from Triple-A.
Friedl was optioned to Triple-A on June 3 amid deep struggles at the plate. Through his first 178 plate appearances in 2026, Friedl was hitting just .179/.259/.256 with a wRC+ of just 42. Part of that was due to bad luck. Friedl is hitting .230 on balls in play this year, well below the league average and Friedl’s career .278 BABIP. However, the biggest culprits in Friedl’s decline were his strikeouts and his trending walk rates. Friedl walked 11.8% of the time in 2025 but 7.3% of the time this year before he was elected. His 23.6% strikeout rate is easily a career high.
Friedl was an above-average hitter as recently as last year, so the Reds were hoping that a little time out in the minor leagues would help him get back on track. That has been largely accomplished. Friedl is hitting .271/.370/.471 with a 122 wRC+ in 81 plate appearances at Triple-A. Although that’s a small sample, Friedl is back to hitting above average and has shown plenty of normal power with three home runs and a .200 split slugging percentage. His 21.0% strikeout rate in Triple-A is still high for him, but on the surface, it looks like Friedl has fixed the issues that plagued him early in the season.
Having established himself as a major league regular in August 2022, Friedl enters this season with more than three years of service. Although this volunteer assignment was unexpected, the three weeks and change Friedl spent with the children will not affect his freelancing timeline. The 39-42 Reds played exactly half of their schedule, so there are more than enough games for Friedl to reach four years of service in 2026. Assuming he is not re-elected, Friedl remains on track for two more arbitration years in 2027-28 before reaching free agency.
Dunn, who has been working for Friedl in center field, is going to IL for now. The 27-year-old Dunn left Friday’s game against the Pirates in the sixth because of elbow discomfort. He may have suffered an injury in the bottom of the fifth while trying to throw out Henry Davis at home with Brandon Lowe sacrifice fly (video courtesy of MLB.com). Dane Myers took over in the bottom of the sixth.
Dunn is hitting .282/.335/.387 with a 98 wRC+ in 155 plate appearances. That’s a few ticks below league average and significantly better than Friedl’s production before he was drafted. Although Dunn doesn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify, he is actually the Reds’ fourth most valuable player by fWAR because of his defense, accumulating Defensive Runs Saved and 2 Outs Over Average in 293 defensive innings.
Dunn has an option left but figures to have a spot as a defensive backup when he returns. For now, Friedl will move back to center field, with Myers serving as his backup. Matt McLain it could also be an emergency option there, as manager Terry Francona told Goldsmith and others that it wouldn’t hurt McLain to take fly balls to center field.
