The Reds play with passion, and they don't plan on changing who they are
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — After Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz hit his first big league home run, he took a few seconds to admire his work.
As Reds television play-by-play broadcaster John Sadak shouted, “That ball had a family,” De La Cruz put his bat in his left hand, tossed it to the Reds’ dugout and put up four fingers on each hand. After he crossed home plate, he formed a heart with his hands, and then he put on a Viking helmet and a cape.
One pitch later, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard hit Reds outfielder Spencer Steer with a pitch. Some Reds players took it as a sign that the Dodgers thought that De La Cruz showed too much emotion. They thought that the Dodgers hit Steer on purpose.
“Yeah, that’s what it was,” Steer said recently. “I got on base. I’ll take it.”
This is who the Reds are. No matter how many times they get hit or how many times an opposing player or manager calls them out, they’ll keep staring down home runs, flipping their bats, pointing to the dugout and putting on the Viking helmet.
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After the Reds’ series against the Dodgers last year, former MVP pitcher Clayton Kershaw said, “I don’t agree with a lot (that) their manager did this series.” One month later, after De La Cruz homered against the Washington Nationals, manager Dave Martinez said, ““I love the way he plays the game. I didn’t like his antics after he hit the home run.”
From the Reds’ perspective, these aren’t antics. It’s a reflection of the personality of the team.
“It’s such a fortunate situation to be in,” Reds outfielder Will Benson said. “I thank God for the people in the locker room. It allows me to be my best self every day. It allows me to come to my job with a genuine happiness to be there. You know how tough this game is. When you have guys who will ride or die with you, it makes the whole experience such a special feeling.”
For the Reds to win this year, they’ll have to be a team that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Without center fielder TJ Friedl (fractured wrist), second baseman Matt McLain (going for second opinion on left shoulder) and third baseman Noelvi Marte (80-game PED suspension) at the start of the year and with a bench that looks much thinner than it did at the start of the spring, the Reds are already facing a lot of adversity.
The big talking point in the clubhouse over the last week has been how well they handled adversity as a team in 2023. Now the core of the team has that experience under its belt.
The Reds are responding to the challenges being presented to them by leaning even further into their identity.
“We play with passion,” Reds infielder Jonathan India said. “We’ll start off like that again this year. We know what team we are now. It’ll be easier this year.”
The Reds’ style of play started to form a year ago. In spring training in 2023, India started conversations about the Reds playing with more emotion, even if outsiders viewed it as too much emotion.
Later that spring, former Reds pitcher Luis Cessa went to India with the idea for the Viking home run celebration. Those celebrations weren’t the norm at the time in MLB, but the leaders in the Reds’ clubhouse liked the idea because the Viking theme fit the culture that they were trying to build.
“That set the picture of who we wanted to be,” Friedl said. “We’re these fearless, aggressive Vikings. That Viking mentality encapsulates our team.”
“We play with passion,” India said. “We don’t care what people think. I don’t care what people think. We’ll play our brand of baseball. If people have a problem with that, so what? We don’t care.”Over the course of the season, the personalities on a young Reds team started to emerge. Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene slaps his mitt and flexes after recording big outs. When Reds starting pitcher Graham Ashcraft faced former San Diego Padres star Juan Soto, who’s known for doing “the Soto shuffle” at the plate, Ashcraft did his own shuffle on the mound.
De La Cruz has a deep arsenal of celebrations, including showing “fours” with each of his hands, making his hands into a heart and flipping his bat.
Benson celebrated his first career home run by slamming his bat and shouting at the Reds’ dugout.
“We play a pretty infectious style of baseball,” Steer said. “You can’t take your eyes off us because we’re always making stuff happen and we’ve always got action going. If people don’t like how we play, that probably means we’re doing the right thing, too. It means we’re annoying and they don’t want to play us. We’ll keep doing exactly what we’ve been doing.”
The Reds’ emotional style pairs well with their style of play. On the basepaths, they’re as aggressive as any team in MLB. Reds manager David Bell always encourages defenders to try to make the diving catch, or to try to throw a runner out at the plate. Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson emphasizes that pitchers go with their biggest strengths in the biggest moments.
In the eyes of Bell, the coaching staff and the players on the roster, there’s a connection between getting to be yourself and playing with confidence.
“We know as individuals how tough it is getting called up and then getting comfortable in the big leagues,” Friedl said. “You don’t want to step on any toes. Creating an environment for all of these young guys to play how they want to play, that makes them comfortable. They get to be the person they want to be. It creates the freedom to be the best versions of themselves. That’s all we ask for.”
India said that the Reds could bring the Viking celebration back in 2024. The Reds don’t plan on changing who they are. There’s only one more thing they need to do.
“I don’t know where the helmet is at,” India said. “We’ve got to find that.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Reds are leaning even further into identity they built last year
