Eugenio Suárez will be threatening Reds royalty with every swing this season

It's so good to see Eugenio Suárez back in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. President of baseball operations Nick Krall was able to coax some extra cash out of the Castellini's piggy bank this offseason and the Reds signed Suárez to a one-year, $15 million deal with a mutual-option for 2027.

The World Baseball Classic is set to begin this week and Suárez will be suiting up for Team Venezuela. But once Opening Day arrives, all signs point to Geno occupying the clean-up spot up behind Elly De La Cruz in the Reds lineup when 2026 season gets underway.

Suárez currently has 189 home runs as a member of the Reds organization — good for No. 13 on the all-time list. But once he steps into the batters' box at Great American Ball Park on March 26 against the Boston Red Sox, his clock restarts and he'll be chasing some big names this season.

Eugenio Suárez will be threatening Reds legends like Jay Bruce, Barry Larkin, and Eric Davis

Suárez's 189 bombs already have him ahead of several Reds' greats like Vada Pinson (186), Pete Rose (152), Joe Morgan (152), and Sean Casey (118). But Geno is still chasing the big boppers. Johnny Bench's franchise-leading 389 homers is safe — at least for now — unless Suárez sticks around for another five-plus seasons.

Other franchise icons like Joey Votto (356), Frank Robinson (324), Tony Perez (287), Adam Dunn (270), and Ted Kluszewski (251) are more than 62 home runs clear of Suárez. But there's some other big names on the list who Suárez could take down rather easily in 2026.

First up is Brandon Phillips. Geno could surpass Dat Dude BP before the end of the first weekend. Phillips is just three home runs ahead of Suárez on the all-time list. Next up would be Reds Hall of Famer Eric Davis. His 203 round-trippers will likely fall out of top-10 sometime later this spring.

After that, it gets a little tougher. Ken Griffey Jr.'s 210 homers are 21 clear of Suárez, but he clobbered 49 big flies last season between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners. After Junior is Jay Bruce's 233 home runs. Surpassing that number could prove difficult, as Suárez would need 45 bombs to usurp Bruce for No. 8 all-time.

If Suárez wants to catch George Foster, he's going to need an MVP-caliber performance in 2026. Foster's 244 career home runs with the Reds puts him 55 ahead of Suárez. That's a big number. Geno would have to break Foster's franchise-record (52) for home runs in the process. Foster set the record back in 1977, a number Suárez almost tied it back in 2019.

If he's able to stay healthy throughout the 2026 season, Suárez should be a force in the middle of the Reds batting order; something Cincinnati was missing last season. While Geno's always been the ultimate team-player, climbing the franchise ladder and surpassing some of the all-time Reds greats might be in the back of his mind this season.