How the 2024 Reds are preparing to be a playoff team

GOODYEAR, Ariz. –– Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell was a solid big league player for 12 seasons. He played multiple positions, hit at an about league average mark and was usually slotted in the bottom third of his team’s lineup.

But in some of the biggest moments of his career, Bell usually leveled up. His career postseason stats were better than his career regular season stats, and he went on a tear in 2002 for a San Francisco Giants team that made it to the World Series.

“I always liked (the playoffs) because the way I felt in the playoffs is the way you want to feel all the time,” Bell said. “Personal stats didn’t matter at all. I just loved playing that way. You try to bottle that up and take that approach to everything you do. We talk about that (now) in a lot of different ways. That’s the ultimate way to play this game.”

Bell’s reflection on his postseason experience sounds a lot like the message he’s emphasizing with the 2024 Reds during team meetings in the first two weeks of spring training. Most of the Reds’ best players don’t know what the playoffs are like. Last year’s historic rookie class doesn’t even know yet the ups and downs that typically come in a player’s second year in the big leagues.

Regression from surprising Reds season a concern

The biggest concerns for the 2024 Reds will be regression, pressure and expectations. Their approach to overcome all of that will determine whether they win a playoff series or finish with a worse record than they had last season.

"The organizations that approach a playoff game like they approach any other game, those are the ones that have the most sustained success," said Reds reliever Emilio Pagán, who has been a part of four playoff teams. "You see guys in the playoffs who try to do a bit too much. You want to do so well. That’s something we talked about last year in Minnesota. No need to change anything. The teams that do that consistently are the teams that win a World Series. That’s something we talked about here with David on our first day."

Bell said that young teams and young players can run into trouble when they get complacent with early success. The Reds are big believers in the idea of player development at the big league level. They overhauled their coaching staff before last season to make that more of a strength, and the coaches will work with a 35-year-old on ways to take his game to another level just like they do with a 22-year-old.

Bell’s big message to the team this spring has hit on that theme. Every player has to continue to improve, players have to push each other to continue to improve and they have to pick each other up when they face the adversity that inevitably comes up during the season.

Players' improvement doesn't end when they make majors

“The day you stop working to improve, grow every day and get better every day, it goes the other way on you,” Bell said. “You approach it like you have your whole life. Our players have gotten where they’ve gotten and had a good showing in their first year last year for all the reasons that make them who they are. If anything, there’s more purposeful work than last year. It’s in our control to not let that be a thing.”

Last season, the Reds were one of the breakout teams in baseball because just about every position player in the lineup exceeded expectations. But progress in baseball is rarely linear, especially for second-year players. Plenty of standout rookies have taken a step back in their sophomore seasons, including recent Rookies of the Year like Kyle Lewis and Jonathan India and Rookie of the Year contenders like Steven Kwan, Jeremy Peña and Jake McCarthy.

The development of last year’s Reds rookie class will be one of the defining aspects of the Reds’ 2024 season.

“Year 2 is definitely an adjusting period,” India said. “People know who you are now, and they can figure you out. But you get out of it. You just have to play hard.”

“As soon as you start looking forward to something that’s out of your control, it’s the kiss of death,” Reds catcher Luke Maile said. “That’s probably why there are a lot of sophomore slumps. If you worry about the now, enjoy your teammates and play the game the right way, it works out. You do exactly what you did that got you here."

Sophomore slump is not a given for players

The Reds have had several success stories from second-year players. TJ Friedl, Will Benson and Alexis Díaz are among the players on the Reds who took their games to a different level in their second year in MLB. Tyler Stephenson looked like an All-Star in 2022 before he got hurt.

“The key to Year 2 is don’t bank on last year’s success,” Reds infielder Josh Harrison said. “Just because you had it last year doesn’t mean you can still do it. It’s a fine line between knowing it’s not a fluke but you’ve got to continue to prove it every year.”

The Reds are stressing details like base running, defense and fundamentals throughout the first week of spring training to build on the identity that they developed last season. They’ve even practiced a lot of bunting, bunt defense and pickoff coverage.

Just about every position player has stressed the importance of becoming more dynamic defenders. The Reds’ established starting pitchers are locked in on small tweaks to mechanics and new pitches that help them find more consistency and pitch deeper into games.

“It takes being a dog to win,” Reds right-handed pitcher Nick Martinez said. “It’s time to compete your (tail) off one pitch at a time. Every pitch matters on both sides of the ball. You have to really hone in your ability to focus.”

If the Reds get these small details right in spring training and carry them into the season, then they have enough talent to get them to October. But when they get there, a young roster will face pressure that most of them have never experienced. Most of the Reds’ young core has never felt the spotlight of a postseason environment.

The 2024 Reds’ 11 projected regulars in the lineup have combined for one career postseason plate appearance, which was taken in 2022 by Benson when he was on the Cleveland Guardians. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Graham Ashcraft and Andrew Abbott have never pitched in the playoffs, and they don’t even have much collective experience being a part of meaningful September baseball.

“All of the stuff that you don’t do all year –– bunt plays, first to thirds, hit and runs –– that all comes into play in the playoffs,” Pagán said. "A 3-2 walk feels like the biggest rally ever. Everything is intensified, from communication with family and friends to media coverage. Everything seems to mean more. The trick is to remind yourself it’s the same game."

The Reds have added veterans like Pagán, Nick Martinez, Maile and Frankie Montas to pass along what they’ve learned when they played on the postseason stage. Candelario hasn’t participated in a playoff game yet, but he’s another veteran who can give the group some valuable experience in the biggest moments of the year.

“It’s about doing the little things right in February and March to prepare for the moment,” Reds reliever Lucas Sims said. “When all eyes are on you, you don’t have to think. You just let your abilities show and just play. In the playoffs, it’s not necessarily always the best players or the most talent that wins. It always seems like the best team that plays together and plays the game the right way that comes out on top.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How the 2024 Reds are preparing to be a playoff team