Reds infielder Matt McLain has suddenly increased his defensive versatility. On Tuesday, he entered the game as a pinch-hitter and then stayed in the game in the center field position. That was his first big league appearance at that spot. Yesterday, he made his first career start in center.
It’s a quick turnaround from idea to implementation. Just last week, manager Terry Francona suggested McLain shag some fly balls in center, per Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie’s Chalkboard. “Just have some fun with it,” Francona told him. “Nobody has a crystal ball.”
McLain seemed game, telling Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer that he had done pre-game work in center before, just for fun. Once the skipper made a note of it, he started doing the work more seriously. “The lineup could be different every day,” McLain said. “So if Tito says go take fly balls in center, you go take fly balls in center.” Just a few days after these conversations, Dane Myers hit the injured list, depriving the club of a righty swinging center field option.
TJ Friedl is currently the club’s primary center fielder, but he is a lefty bat. Friedl’s career splits are fairly neutral but with greater luck on balls in play against southpaws. His strikeout rate, walk rate and isolated power are all better with the platoon advantage. Myers and Friedl had been platooning the spot but the injury to Myers created an opening for the righty-swinging McLain.
As mentioned, McLain had never played center in the majors before. He hadn’t played it in the minors either. He did play some center for UCLA but has been a middle infielder since being drafted. His only center field work since being drafted was in the 2022 Arizona Fall League, when he played three games there.
It’s too early in the experiment to tell if it will work out or not. If it does pan out, it could help McLain stay in the lineup, even if it’s just as a short-side platoon guy. Not too long ago, he looked like he would be a mainstay of the Cincinnati roster. In 2023, splitting his time between second base and shortstop, he hit 16 home runs and stole 14 bases. He slashed .290/.357/.507 for a 129 wRC+. That was buoyed by a .385 batting average on balls in play but that was just his age-23 season. Some regression would be coming in the luck department but continued development could have counteracted that somewhat.
But shoulder surgery wiped out his 2024 and he hasn’t been nearly as productive since. He has a .212/.299/.342 line and 77 wRC+ since the start of the 2025 season. Edwin Arroyo has been getting a lot of the second base playing time, though he’s not exactly running with the job. He has a .268/.321/.310 line and 74 wRC+ thus far in his big league career. But that’s a small sample of just 79 plate appearances and he had a huge .323/.383/.562 showing in Triple-A, so the Reds probably want to let him play and see if he taps into some more offense.
McLain, despite his general struggles, has still been hitting lefties well enough. The righty swinger has a .225/.342/.361 line and 98 wRC+ since the start of last season. That includes a .218/.368/.382 line and 112 wRC+ this year, despite an unlucky .231 batting average on balls in play in that split. He is drawing walks in 17.1% of his plate appearances against southpaws while only striking out 18.6% of the time.
If Arroyo keeps struggling, perhaps McLain ends up back at second base, but the center field experiment gives him another path to carving out a useful role on the roster. He qualified for arbitration last winter as a Super Two guy and is making $2.3MM this year. He is controlled for three more seasons after this one but will be due annual raises, as player salaries almost never go down in the arb system.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
