Matt McLain is Struggling at the Plate, but Reds Fans Shouldn't Be Worried

CINCINNATI -- Five-hundred and seventy-eight days. Between August 27, 2023 in Arizona and March 27, 2025 in Cincinnati, that's how long Reds second baseman Matt McLain went without playing in a Major League Baseball game.

In his rookie season in 2023, McLain hit .290 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI. The former UCLA Bruin also had 14 stolen bases, 43 total extra-base hits, 65 runs scored and finished fifth in National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Through 24 games this season, McLain is hitting .156 with four home runs and 12 RBI. He has a .269 on-base percentage, but he has struck out 33 times.

And yet, I'm not worried. It's still early enough for him to turn it around.

McLain walked twice, drove in a run on a fielders' choice and scored a run in the Reds' 6-1 win over the Nationals on Friday night.

Here's my word of advice when it comes towards thinking about McLain: Don't worry about him.

We hear the term "sophomore slump" often in Major League Baseball. A player can be prone to struggles in his second season after a really good rookie season. That's what McLain is going through.

Because the 25-year-old second baseman missed all of 2024 with a shoulder injury, this 2025 season is essentially McLain's second season. He still hasn't even played the equivalent of a full 162-game season in his career.

It's still too early to make conclusive determinations of the kind of player McLain is. There are good stretches and bad stretches so far in the second baseman's career, but those strecthes only encompass less than the equivalent of a full regular season.

Coming off a shoulder injury that sidelined him for all of 2024, McLain maybe needed more time than we expected to get back to the level of production he had in 2023. When a player goes nearly 600 days without playing in a full Major League Baseball game, it can take a lengthy period of time to get his swing back. That's what it looks like McLain is going through. He's still hitting the ball hard and playing good defense, while also still figuring things out at the plate.

That's the thing. Because McLain has only played barely over 100 Major League games and has already overcome a major shoulder injury, he's still a young, inexpereinced player that fans have high expectations for. Rightfully so, because of what we saw from McLain in 2023. But he's still so raw and inexperienced, making his shoulder injury even more inconvieient timing.

McLain is far from a finished product. That's another reason why fans shouldn't be worried even as the Reds second baseman is off to a struggling start in 2025.

For historic reference, Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter hit .314 in his rookie season in 1996. The following season, in 1997, Jeter hit .291. That's 23 points below his Rookie of the Year average in 1996.

Players go through slumps in Major League Baseball. It's part of the game. The good news is there are a lot of other hitters in the Reds lineup prodcuing right now, so there's not too much pressure on McLain to quickly snap out of his slump. He will eventually.

We've seen a good enough season from McLain in 2023 to suggest that he's going to improve in 2025. Reds fans shouldn't be worried about him. I know I'm not.