Reds have a no-brainer move staring them in the face thanks to Rece Hinds

Rece Hinds is hitting .354/.475/.771 with nine extra-base hits, including five home runs, through 13 games at Triple-A Louisville this season. It's time for the Cincinnati Reds to stop making excuses and reward the slugger with a spot on the active roster.

Elevating Hinds back to the big leagues should help to jumpstart what's been an anemic Reds' offense. Though Cincinnati scored a combined 13 runs during two games against the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend, the Reds rank 26th in hits, 27th in runs scored and batting average, and 28th in OPS. Adding Hinds to the roster should help bolster the Reds offense in every single one of those categories.

Promoting Hinds to the Major League roster would require a corresponding move, though it's not as if the Reds don't have a number of under-performers who could be sent down to the minor leagues. The most obvious choice, however, is Noelvi Marte.

Reds must option Noelvi Marte back to the minors & promote Rece Hinds

It's doubtful that Marte could've gotten off to a worse start to begin his 2026 campaign. In 29 at-bats, he's hitting .138 and has yet to record an extra-base hit. His 47.7% chase rate is alarming, but perhaps more frightening is the stat that Cincinnati reporter Charlie Goldsmith revealed on Sunday night. Marte is seeing the lowest percentage strikes in all of baseball.

According to Goldsmith, more than 60% of the pitches Marte has seen so far this season are outside the strike zone. In other words, opposing pitchers know that Marte has such poor plate discipline that they're refusing to throw him strikes. Moreover, he's swinging at those pitches nearly 50% of the time. That's a bad sign, and it should be a signal to the Reds front office that he needs a reset down in the minor leagues.

Ironically, Marte and Hinds were on two different trajectories once spring training came to a close, but the Reds chose to add the former to Opening Day roster while the latter was optioned to Triple-A. Marte posted a .235/.250/.527 slash line during Cactus League play while Hinds hit .405/.465/.949.

Marte, however, shouldn't be the only Reds player staring down a minor-league assignment. TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer, and Will Benson are all hitting below the Mendoza line, and have done little to help Cincinnati's lineup to begin the season.

Reds have an obvious hole to fill in right field, and Hinds has been one of the organization's top prospects for quite some time. It's time to allow the 25-year-old enough runway to see if he can truly live up to the "monster" label Nick Krall assigned to him during the offseason.