The identity, evolving strategy and rebuilt structure of the Reds’ hitting department

The Cincinnati Reds have been making significant changes behind the scenes to create some much needed alignment throughout the hitting department. The goal is to establish more stability and consistency throughout the organization in hitting development.

“Philosophically, we want to be aligned in scouting and player development,” Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said. “That goes from the (Dominican Summer League) to the Major Leagues. We want to be aligned, and we want to have quality at-bats up and down the organization that can help us score runs at this level.”

Beginning this year, the Reds are modeling their hitting development system after their pitching development system, which runs through director of pitching/big league pitching coach Derek Johnson.

They hired Chris Valaika to be the director of hitting as well as their big league hitting coach. Valaika had previous experience as Reds manager Terry Francona’s hitting coach when Francona managed the Cleveland Guardians.

Valaika also had experience in player development as a minor league hitting coordinator with the Chicago Cubs. With the Cubs, Valaika worked daily with current Reds farm director Jeremy Farrell, who has run the day-to-day in the Reds’ farm system for two years.

Valaika already had a good understanding of both Francona and Farrell’s approach when Valaika took his job with the Reds. Farrell, who has known Francona for about 20 years and also has worked under former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, has a good understanding of Francona’s approach and also knows Valaika well.

The Reds have also made changes at the coordinator level for leadership positions on the hitting side in the Reds’ farm system over the last few seasons. The team is pursuing a more “holistic” approach instead of skewing more heavily toward analytics like they had in the past.

“Chris is the right person to get us back to where we need to be,” Krall said. “It’s about quality at-bats. It’s about approach. We’re making sure of that top to bottom.”

The identity

The strength of the Reds’ organization has been their ability to develop pitchers under Derek Johnson. They’re getting great production out of Hunter Greene, and they’ve also produced diamonds in the rough like Andrew Abbott.

“Being with the Reds for seven years, we’re unified from a pitching perspective in what we feel is important to us,” Johnson said. “The direction we want to go. The language that we use. With (Valaika) being the (hitting) director, that’s exactly what our front office and ownership wants. That voice from the top all the way down, a unified approach. You don’t always get that. Especially when you’ve had a couple of hitting coaches that have been here. Then you get another group in and they believe something else. We have a chance now to really solidify that. We’ve never really had the opportunity to do that before. It’s a good thing, and (Valaika) is the right guy to do it.”

Over the last six years, the Reds have had a tremendous amount of turnover at the positions of hitting coordinator, hitting director and big league hitting coach. CJ Gillman, Jim Rickon, Joel McKeithan, Alan Zinter, Turner Ward, Joe Mather and Donnie Ecker all had significant roles at one point but were not with the Reds’ organization for very long.

With so many moving pieces, new voices and changing philosophies, there wasn’t enough organizational alignment on the hitting side between player acquisition, player development and big league coaching.

Krall and general manager Brad Meador have traits that they prioritize in hitters. They value the hit tool more than the power tool. They believe that situational hitting really matters. They’ve invested a lot into the Reds’ analytics, biomechanics and sports science department, but they also put a lot of stock into the art of hitting.

Valaika’s approach is much more in line with the vision at the top of the organization. The numbers are very important, but so are some more old school qualities that numbers can’t really capture. As Johnson says on the pitching side, it’s about balancing the art with the science.

“What we’ve talked about for a while has been a holistic approach and a balanced approach to all of this (on the hitting side),” Meador said. “It’s a work in progress. Any time you make changes, it takes time. Especially when you make philosophical changes that are organizational. There are a lot of people involved. That’s not something that happens overnight. I do think there have been positive changes. But I also think we have a ways to go.”

With a new manager, a new director of hitting and a farm director entering his second year in that role with the Reds, the Reds strategized during the winter and spring training about how they were going to shape their hitting department going forward.

Between Francona, Valaika, Farrell, Krall and Meador, the Reds have much more philosophical alignment across the organization.

“We like to be about a balanced approach,” Farrell said. “Some of the new progressive ideologies, they have a place and they’re very important. We try to be intentional and responsible in the way we use the information at our disposal. We try to start with what’s going on on the field and what the game is telling us and try to find ways to supplement that with everything that’s available.”

The big leagues

Valaika’s big task during the offseason was reconstructing the design of the physical scouting reports that the Reds use for every game. Working with the Reds’ analytics department, the group determined what was going to be the biggest points of emphasis for Reds’ hitters throughout the organization.

“We rebuilt that process,” Valaika said. “We’re building the same versions of those in the minor leagues so we’re speaking the same language and we’re looking at things the same way.”

Valaika received freedom, flexibility and space to make change.

“He spent a ton of time on (the new scouting reports),” Francona said. “I don’t ever tell him what to put in there. That’s why we hired him. The way it works the best is (to) get good coaches and let them coach.”

Valaika also started overseeing the organizational hitting content, influencing the messaging that Reds coaches share with hitters at the lower levels. As Valaika shapes the qualities that the Reds are going to emphasize in hitters, he’s involved in conversations about which traits the organization’s internal analytical models are going to emphasize.

“In some instances, I’ve not been a fan of that when from the top down, everything is the same,” Francona said. “Sometimes, it’s not done correctly. (Valaika) has such a good feel for it because he has done that job (minor league hitting coordinator) also. We’re trying to keep some consistency with the messaging. That’s as important as anything.”

Valaika has a different background than last year’s hitting coach. Former Reds hitting coach Joel McKeithan had a background from the data-driven Driveline facility. Valaika played in the big leagues, had already coached in the big leagues (in Cleveland), had been a minor league hitting coordinator (with the Cubs) and also had coached in the minor leagues.

Valaika puts a lot of stock into data and sports science and has experience in that world, but he has also had points of emphasis on the hitting side that Reds hitters weren’t getting in recent seasons.

“I believe in the traditional, or whatever you want to call it,” Valaika said. “There’s always a place for situational hitting. There’s always a place for bunting. If you play to the scoreboard, the game takes care of itself. We keep talking about the right things. (Francona) has been a big champion of the messaging I try to bring with situational hitting. Understanding what the game is asking you. The heartbeat of the game.”

Valaika said that as he familiarized himself with the Reds’ organization during the offseason, he recognized the Reds had some hitters who could do damage, but those hitters also had a track record of higher whiff and strikeout rates.

He also identified that the hitters had room to grow in the process of making in-game adjustments. Building up that ability takes time, and it should start well before a player’s big league debut. The Reds haven’t been good enough situational hitters over the last few years. Improving the offense isn’t as simple as just making more contact.

“The easy part would be to just focus on contact,” Valaika said. “We need to do a better job of working on our game planning and helping our players be more diligent with their own homework. Then empowering our (minor league) coaches to put together game plans like we do in the Major Leagues. Then, hopefully, the ability to scale that from the big leagues down, these guys when they do come to us know how to read it, know where to look at to know what to value. That’s the initiative this year.”

On a day-to-day basis, Valaika said that his focus has been getting Reds hitters to balance controlling the strike zone with being aggressive. Reds hitters are trying to establish different habits and adjust better to the specific situations that they’re in.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Valaika said. “But if we keep saying the right things and keep messaging that, that also goes into the development in the minor leagues as we make those things important.”

The minor leagues

On the Reds’ big league roster, there are only four regulars in the lineup who were homegrown and spent their entire minor league careers in the organization: Tyler Stephenson, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl.

The Reds have done a good job over the last several seasons of hitting on first-round picks like Stephenson and McLain. De La Cruz is a once-in-a-generation type breakout that you couldn’t have projected as De La Cruz grew nearly a foot and became an elite power hitter in the middle of the pandemic.

The Reds need more success stories like Friedl, who has gone from a mid-tier prospect to an All-Star caliber player. They also need a much stronger wave of depth than they’ve had in the past. Unless the Reds significantly change their approach in free agency and in trades and become much more aggressive, their ability to contend will rely on development success stories like Friedl’s.

This is what Krall and Meador hired Valaika, Farrell and minor league hitting coordinators Dave Hansen, Tyler Henson and Jason Broussard to help create.

“A lot of it is being aligned vertically from the big leagues through the minor leagues,” Farrell said. “And a lot of it is working together across departments within player development. Our hitting coordinators working closely with our off-field groups whether it’s applied sports science, strength and conditioning or athletic training. Creating common goals and having everyone pulling the rope in the same direction.”

As the Reds work to create that alignment, it helps that Valaika and Farrell have shared history. They worked together in the Cubs’ organization from 2017 through 2021. Farrell was Chicago’s director of player development before he joined the Reds’ organization in 2022, and then he was promoted by the Reds in 2024 to farm director. Valaika overlapped with Farrell in the Cubs’ organization from 2017 through 2021.

In Chicago, Valaika and Farrell worked under former Cubs president Theo Epstein, who previously had been the general manager of the Red Sox when Francona was in Boston.

“Having the familiarity (with Farrell) has been great,” Valaika said. “Having the support from Nick and Brad and from Jeremy. He has been a big advocate for a lot of things. To have his voice and his ability to be with the minor leagues is huge as we get this thing rolling.”

Farrell said, “There’s a level of trust there (with Valaika). Working together in the past and knowing what people are about, what they believe in and how they interact with staff and players. It was an easy add. Chris was a huge add to the organization this year. I really like the direction we’re going. It’s huge, being on the same page. Not having two different philosophies. Not going after two completely different ideas is something we believe strongly in.”

The three minor league hitting coordinators (Hansen, Henson and Broussard) report to Farrell, the farm director. Hansen played in the big leagues for 15 years. Henson had been a long-time minor league hitting coach. Broussard has experience as a minor league hitting coach as well as scouting experience.

“In terms of alignment and going after some of the same things in the major leagues and minor leagues in terms of what we value,” Farrell said, “(We’re) having Chris set that north star to allow our coordinators to build that out in the minor leagues.”

Broussard fills a new role in the organization. His title is the “Academies Hitting Coordinator,” and he focuses primarily on the teenage Reds’ prospects in the Dominican Republic and in Rookie Ball in Arizona. Outside of De La Cruz, the Reds haven’t developed enough impact hitters who they acquired through international free agency.

They need more from the prospects they sign out of Latin America and elsewhere to supplement the prospects they add via the draft. Broussard is focused on those prospects.

“Jason Broussard is probably one of our more technical coordinators,” Farrell said. “That being said, he still values the traditional and is able to speak in a balanced way and coach in a balanced way that’s right in line with what we believe in as an organization.”

As the Reds have built up departments like analytics, biomechanics, sports science and strength and conditioning, Reds’ decision makers have a lot of information to look at as they chart developmental goals and player plans. Last week, the Reds had a series of all-hands meetings with the coordinators, directors and top front office brass assembling in Cincinnati to establish specific player plans and establish goals for individual prospects for the rest of the season. As the Reds go through this process, cross-departmental alignment makes an impact.

“It’s been trying to establish an identity at the big leagues to see what we can scale at the minor leagues,” Valaika said. “It’s about building better processes so we’re all communicating and seeing things the same way. We’re reading off the same sheet of music. As we do that, there will be stuff this winter with staff development, certain analytical goals that we like and we look at. Same with the biomechanics side. Getting guys to be up to speed with everything so we’re speaking the same language. We’re writing the same. That helps.”

They don’t want prospects getting called up to the big leagues and being asked to hit and run or bunt for the first time, which has happened. They want their prospects to have a better feel for moving runners and for playing to the score, which require habits that take time to develop.

“It’s unfair to them when they get to the big leagues and you ask them to do something and they’ve never been prepared for it,” Valaika said. “The biggest thing is having the support and trust in me to have that message. Hopefully they continue to embrace it. We want this to not just show up on paper and in words. We want it to show up in action.”

Player acquisition

Over the last few years, the Reds have linked their organizational priorities when it comes to coaching and development with their priorities when it comes to player acquisition. The Reds have a type, and mock drafts for them are pretty easy.

“We’ve been trying to get guys that can hit first (over power),” Krall said. “(Matt) McLain. Cam Collier, there’s a good hit tool there. Sal Stewart. Look at the draft and where we’ve gone the last four years. We’re looking to get guys that can hit. You’ve got a small ballpark. You can hit here, and you’re going to hit some home runs. We just need to continue to get good hitters.”

Valaika said that Krall, Meador, the front office and the coaching staff have established the “pillars” that the organization prioritizes in player acquisition through the draft, free agency and trades. Valaika said, “From there, how do we move that through the organization with those pillars driving our development?”

They valued Noelvi Marte and Spencer Steer on the trade market in 2022 because they each had good feel as a hitter. Now, a big part of the Reds’ success is getting the most out of them. McLain’s tools are a perfect representation of the qualities that the Reds value, but now he has to work on improving his plan at the plate to get out of this rut that he’s in.

The Reds know the style of hitter that they’re after.

“As an offensive profile, you want guys that are going to make contact, especially in our ballpark,” Krall said. “It makes a lot sense for us because if you can hit line drives and use the whole field, you’re going to be able to score runs.”

They have to continue to improve their process of drafting and developing these types of players.

“Where we are and where we will always be is we have to be a good drafting team and a good development team,” Meador said.

It’s very important work for a Reds’ franchise that can’t outspend its mistakes like the teams they’re competing with in the NL Central. The Reds’ front office wasn’t able to spend for the middle of the order threat that the lineup needed heading into 2025. The Reds have to develop that player.

They recognize that they have had to get better in player development to make that happen, so they’ve significantly changed the structure behind the scenes to create the alignment that the organization has been missing on the hitting side.

“If you want to get this right as an organization, it starts with alignment,” Meador said. “Now, when you change a philosophy or have a change in direction, it’s almost a startover and it makes it harder. But we have to be aligned from bottom to top.”