The Cincinnati Reds have a deep pool of talent to call upon in 2024. Which player is the most irreplaceable?
On a roster that feels like it is built to withstand a few injuries, this is a hard exercise with the Reds.
Nick Krall has done a good job over the last few years stockpiling talented players in the minors who have now made it to the majors. He has also bolstered a pitching staff that is talented, albeit inexperienced, and seen its fair share of injuries. So, if the Reds were to miss a player the most, who would it be?
The easy answer is someone like Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Hunter Greene or Andrew Abbott. Believe it or not, I’m not picking any of those guys. All are supremely talented and will be massive factors in whether the team does well in 2024, but the Reds have the infield talent to move around if either McLain or De La Cruz miss time. The starting rotation has lots of talent to choose from, too, and can absorb the loss of Greene or Abbott.
Spencer Steer is the most irreplaceable Reds player in 2024.
They have said they are moving Steer to the outfield this year. Part of that is the glut of infield talent on the roster, but a bigger part is the need in the outfield. They mostly have left handers in the outfield. And excluding the split-proof TJ Friedl, neither Will Benson nor Jake Fraley has shown an ability to hit left-handed pitching.
The Reds have decided to limit their exposure to lefties and Steer hits both kinds of pitchers pretty equally.
If Steer misses a significant amount of time, the Reds will be forced to replace him with … someone? The one area of need that Krall hasn't really addressed is the need for a right-handed outfielder. There still could be a player currently on the team who moves from the infield to the outfield, but that’s more of a “if you squint really hard, you can see it” type idea.
Stuart Fairchild is the only other right-handed outfielder on the 40-man roster with major league experience. He can fill in a pinch, but for two weeks? A month? I’m not confident in him for a long stretch.
There’s also the matter of “if player X on the infield gets hurt” then Steer can fill in. Jonathan India can move in if a middle infielder goes down, but you can also move Steer to third base, or even second base in a pinch, and keep his bat in the lineup. Of course that still opens up the need for a righty in the outfield, which still underscores the importance of Steer being healthy.
The versatility he showed last year makes Steer immensely valuable to the Reds' potential success. He's the guy who will get called on if the infield is shaken by injuries. His bat is a stabilizing force in the Reds lineup that you feel like you know what you will get from it.
If the Reds lose Steer for an extended amount of time, they don’t have an obvious replacement.
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