Reds sent Julian Aguiar back to Triple-A but Terry Francona made one thing clear

Roster cuts are the toughest part of spring training. Sometimes, you have players who clearly don't belong. You can see their reassignments to minor-league camp coming from a mile away. For others like Cincinnati Reds' starter Julian Aguiar, it's a bit more difficult.

Brandon Williamson wasn't wrong when he said that the Reds' rotation battle might be the best camp competition in the entire league. Therefore, losing out doesn't mean failure. With Hunter Greene now out until July, the battle has only increased between Williamson, Rhett Lowder, and Chase Burns, and the trio of starters are now competing for two spots, not just one.

Though Aguiar's been the first man eliminated, that doesn't mean he didn't do everything that was asked of him. In fact, Terry Francona had high praise for the 24-year-old.

“We were really proud of him,” Francona told Cincinnati reporter Charlie Goldsmith. “He has come through a lot. We told him, ‘Some of these cuts get hard. Not this one. You’ve worked your (tail) off. Now go get stretched out. It’s a long year. Go do your stuff. He admitted he has to work through… those first couple of (games). We get it. Go pitch. His future is very bright.”

Terry Francona's comments should inspire optimism for Julian Aguiar

In all honesty, the 7.50 ERA Aguiar put up this spring is misleading. He made three appearances, tossing six innings, and tallied eight strikeouts against one walk. That works out to a 30.8% K-rate and a 3.8% BB-rate. The biggest issue he faced was giving up a couple of long balls that inflated his ERA.

After missing all of 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery, Aguiar was truly a long shot to win a rotation spot. While he ended the 2024 season in the starting rotation, there was an argument that he wasn't quite ready. With a 6.25 ERA, he saw his strikeouts drop, his walks rise once he arrived in the big leagues.

After missing a year of development, the former 12th-round pick needs to continue building back his strength. For many hurlers, it can take some time to regain arm strength even after receiving a clean bill of health and returning to action. For Aguiar, getting that back first is the most important.

The next most important thing is working on his game and continuing to develop. Doing that down in Louisville will be much easier than trying to figure it all out and build back up in the majors.

But as Francona said, this is mostly about the long-term play and what's best for Aguiar. Home runs notwithstanding, he pitched well enough to still be in the mix with the other three competitors, and he should be proud of that. He has a bright future, and delaying another MLB call-up isn't an admission of failure. Instead, it's a signal of investment.