Terry Francona rolled the dice and these Reds young stars delivered big time

Forget his championship pedigree, his dedication to fundamental baseball, and his calculated risks. The most important part of Terry Francona’s managerial style is his relationship with his players, and he just leveraged that trust into one of the most exciting weeks in recent Cincinnati Reds history. Three key moves that could have backfired or bruised an ego or two became the rallying points for Cincinnati’s postseason run.

The first daring shakeup actually came several months ago. Noelvi Marte’s bat needed to stay in the lineup, but his glove was becoming a liability at third base. With Reds' president Nick Krall eyeing an upgrade at the hot corner at the trade deadline, Francona and first base coach Collin Cowgill shifted Marte to right field.

Marte, of course, was a former top prospect with all the raw talent in the world, but with his confidence scraping the bottom of the barrel, the move could have been the final straw. Instead, Marte got to work and completely changed the Reds’ season.

The Reds’ risky role changes for Noelvi Marte, Chase Burns, and Elly De La Cruz made the difference in the postseason push

Marte’s arm was perhaps the most obvious plus as a right fielder. He has a cannon that ranks in the 93rd percentile among fielders. But his athleticism, instincts, and glove stole the show in the Reds' final home game of the 2025 season. His robbery of Bryan Reynolds’ game-tying home run validated the midseason position change and honored every extra hour that Marte put in learning the position.

Not to be outdone, the Reds’ top pitching prospect assumed a new role of his own and transformed into a lockdown reliever as Cincinnati fought through a streak of tight games. Instead of sending Chase Burns, who was recovering from a flexor tendon strain in his pitching arm, back to Triple-A for a bit more seasoning, Francona shifted the possible future ace to the bullpen. 

Burns’ elite velocity and knee-buckling slider played well out of the ‘pen. Over the season’s final month, he allowed just two runs and one walk over 7 ⅓ innings while striking out six. Most importantly, Burns proved himself capable of putting in multiple relief innings, preserving a weary relief corps.

The most boundary breaking move, though, involved the team’s star, Elly De La Cruz. The shortstop has been a mainstay in the top half of the lineup. Nearly 80% career starts have come in one of the top three positions on the lineup card.

Amid a slump, Francona slid the offensive sparkplug down to No. 7 for the final two weeks of the season. Since the move, De La Cruz is hitting .282/.417/.487, an improvement from his .263/.331/.433 line prior to the move.

Clearly, Francona is not afraid to gamble, even with his most prized young stars. That daring has clearly paid off, and with a number of questions surrounding the playoff roster, Reds fans can only hope that such luck holds.

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