The Reds are placing outfielder Blake Dunn on the injured list with an elbow injury, according to Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie’s Chalkboard. Taking his place on the active roster is TJ Friedl, who’s being recalled from Triple-A.
Friedl was optioned to Triple-A on June 3rd amidst profound struggles at the plate. Through his first 178 plate appearances in 2026, Friedl was batting just .179/.259/.256 with a wRC+ of just 42. Part of that was due to bad luck. Friedl is batting .230 on balls in play this year, which falls well below league average and Friedl’s .278 career BABIP. However, the bigger culprits for Friedl’s downturn were his strikeout and walk rates trending in the wrong direction. Friedl walked 11.8% of the time in 2025 but just 7.3% of the time this year before being optioned. His 23.6% strikeout rate is easily a career high.
Friedl was an above-average hitter as recently as last year, so the Reds were hoping that a brief detour to the minor leagues could help get him back on track. That has mostly come to fruition. Friedl is batting .271/.370/.471 with a 122 wRC+ in 81 plate appearances at Triple-A. While that’s a small sample, Friedl is back to walking at an above average rate and has also shown more typical power with three home runs and a .200 isolated slugging percentage. His 21.0% strikeout rate at Triple-A is still high for him, but on the surface, it looks as though Friedl has corrected the issues that were plaguing him early in the season.
Having established himself as a big league regular in August 2022, Friedl entered this season with well over three years of service time. Although this optional assignment was unexpected, the three weeks and change Friedl spent in the minors won’t affect his timeline for free agency. The 39-42 Reds have played exactly half of their schedule, so there are more than enough games for Friedl to reach four years of service in 2026. Assuming he doesn’t get optioned again, Friedl remains on track for two more years of arbitration in 2027-28 before reaching free agency.
Dunn, who’d been covering for Friedl in center field, heads to the IL for the time being. Dunn left Friday’s game against the Pirates in the sixth inning with elbow discomfort. It’s possible he sustained the injury in the bottom of the fifth while attempting to throw out Henry Davis at home on a Brandon Lowe sacrifice fly (video courtesy of MLB.com). Dane Myers took over in center in the bottom of the sixth.
Dunn is batting .282/.335/.387 with a 98 wRC+ in 155 plate appearances. That’s only a few ticks below league average and far better than Friedl’s production before he was optioned. While Dunn doesn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify, he’s actually the Reds’ fourth-most valuable position player by fWAR on account of his defense, having accrued 5 Defensive Runs Saved and 2 Outs Above Average in 293 defensive innings.
Per Goldsmith, Dunn will undergo evaluations on his elbow back in Cincinnati. He has an option remaining but figures to have a spot as a defensive backup when he returns. For now, Friedl will slot back in as the primary center fielder, with Myers acting as his backup. Matt McLain might also be an emergency option there, as manager Terry Francona told Goldsmith and others that it wouldn’t hurt for McLain to take some fly balls in center field.
