One stubborn habit Terry Francona must break to get the Reds back on track in 2026

Considering the Cincinnati Reds were the eighth-fastest team in the majors in terms of sprint speed in 2025, you would expect Cincinnati to use that to its advantage. This is a team that was built to run and gun. Unfortunately, manager Terry Francona put the brakes on the Reds too often this season.

Spencer Steer is a prime example of Francona’s impact on the Reds’ approach to baserunning. The first baseman has had two nearly identical seasons at the plate. In 2024, he was slightly better at getting on base, and this year, he was a bit more of a slugger, but he landed at approximately the same OPS (.721 vs. .723).

Steer had similar opportunities to advance to an extra base (118 vs. 108) and slightly fewer stolen base opportunities (866 vs. 774). Steer’s attempts in those situations fell dramatically, from 113 to 71 overall attempts. As a result, a player who contributed three runs through baserunning in 2024 was effectively neutralized.

Terry Francona is literally and figuratively holding the Reds back on the bases

Francona has approached the running game with caution, as evidenced by Steer’s dramatic decrease in attempts. That mindset may have saved the team a few outs, particularly those by De La Cruz who created more outs on the basepaths than anyone else in the NL in 2024. But it also held the Reds back from scoring runs. Steer, a 20-20 player last season, attempted just seven steals in 2025. Will Benson, the fastest player to regularly get playing time, attempted just four steals and was thrown out twice!

Across the roster, players are attempting fewer steals and advances than in previous seasons. Only Matt McLain seems to be exempt from the skipper’s philosophy (although he already stole bases at a fairly conservative clip of 2%). If the Reds have six players (De La Cruz, McLain, Benson, Rece Hinds, Blake Dunn, and Noelvi Marte) that rank in the top 11% of MLB players in sprint speed, why is Francona throwing on the brakes? 

Part of the caution stems from injury, particularly in the case of De La Cruz and Steer, but it’s becoming clear that speed could be a major factor in winning championships. Of the top 11 teams in baserunning runs in 2025, eight made the playoffs (including the Reds), and the New York Mets and Arizona Diamonbacks were in contention for the Wild Card until the final week of the season.

Only the Tampa Bay Rays failed to run their way into the playoff picture. So if the Reds want to “run it back” with a repeat trip to the postseason, Francona should return to his devil-may-care roots and take some running risks.