3 Reds emerging as long-term answers after an atrocious 2024

One of the great cliches in baseball is its relationship to hope. The spring grass, the fresh uniforms, the endless musings about recaptured boyhood. But even cliches capture some fundamental truth, and each season we see players who have been written off emerge triumphant.

The 2025 Cincinnati Reds have a trio of such players — all former top prospects whose promise seemed to dim — has been a testament to that cliched hope. These once-promising Reds players’ bounce-back seasons could have a huge impact on 2026.

3 Reds emerging as long-term answers after an atrocious 2024 season

Connor Phillips, Reds reliever

The story of Connor Phillips’ journey to the majors to Rookie-Ball and back seems almost too good to be true. The right-hander turned heads with his velocity and landed not only on lists of Reds prospects but among various Top 100 rankings prior to the 2024 season. This control, though, almost derailed his career. His struggles at Triple-A last year were bad enough that the club essentially shut him down in order to build him back up.

The Reds’ player development team transformed Phillips from a starter into a reliever, lowered his arm angle, and cut his changeup from his arsenal. After some soul searching, he returned to the big leagues and since has been an asset in the Reds’ playoff hunt. His sweeper has become a devastating two-strike pitch, and his curveball has jumped from 90 to 115 on the Stuff+ scale. Phillips’ improvements have entered him into the conversation about the closer role in 2026.

Noelvi Marte, Reds outfielder

In order to find Noelvi Marte’s name on the fWAR leaderboard for 2024, you have to skip to the 49th, and final, page. Only two of the players ranked below him — Martín Maldonado and Roddery Muñoz — have appeared in a big-league game this year, and they have both been either waived or released at least once since the end of last season. 

Marte, on the other hand, forced his way into the starting lineup by picking up a new position mid-season and mashing the baseball. Among players with at least 30 games this season with the Reds, Marte ranks first in OPS and batting average. Marte’s bat clearly still plays, but his defense at right field has been questionable at times. Given the fact that he is still new to the position, a full offseason of work on reads and jumps could transform Marte into a superstar.

Will Benson, Reds outfielder

Despite the near-constant complaints about the quality of the Reds’ outfield, Benson has not received regular playing time, but he’s made the most of what he’s got. Since the All-Star break, Benson has appeared in just 27 games (several as a pinch-hitter), but he has contributed 13 RBIs and a .587 slugging percentage in that time.

If the Reds finally give Benson the regular playing time he has earned, that would translate to 24 homers and 78 RBI over a 162-game season. That could be the difference between playing baseball or sitting at home in October 2026.

More Cincinnati Reds News and Rumors