Sunday, October 18

Welcome to the Reds Beat Newsletter! MLB digital content fellow Courtney Hollmon pinch-hit on this edition.

Player development in modern baseball often gets boiled down to biomechanics, pitch design and exit velocities. But to Terry Francona, none of those data points matter if young players don't first learn the most critical habit in professional sports: how to win.

When Single-A Daytona and High-A Dayton earned postseason berths this September, Cincinnati's manager wasn't just checking box scores. Instead, he saw the playoff atmosphere as a crucial opportunity for the organization's rising core to build a culture together -- one that starts long before a prospect ever sets foot inside Great American Ball Park.

"If one of those teams wins, they honor them in Spring Training," Francona said earlier this week. "I'll make sure I'm there. And not pooh-poohing it. I don't give a [expletive] if the rings are real, if they're fake. Winning is winning, and I want to make sure that they know [that]. In the Minor Leagues, you have to have parameters and guidelines on what you're going to do to develop guys. But winning is still good."

For Francona, that emphasis on winning isn’t just about collecting hardware in September; it’s about the tangible chemistry built when prospects go through high-stakes games side by side.

To ensure the affiliates were fully equipped for meaningful September baseball, the organization made strategic late-August roster moves, reassigning select prospects from Double-A Chattanooga down to Dayton and Daytona specifically to satisfy playoff-eligibility requirements.

To Francona, bringing players up through a farm system in an environment that prioritizes winning fosters a shared mindset that carries all the way to the Major Leagues.

"I think when guys win together, and if they move up together, you can tell," Francona said. "There's a little bit of a bond there, a little bit of a swagger maybe. And that's a good thing."

For Francona, maintaining connection across every level of the organization isn't about issuing orders from the big league manager's office. It is about showing up and demonstrating genuine respect for the people doing the work.

Rather than micromanaging young prospects or stepping on the toes of Minor League personnel, Francona’s philosophy relies on setting clear boundaries and letting coaches coach.

"I think there's a way to be respectful," Francona said. "Like the Draft, I went up to the Draft room, I didn't talk. But I wanted to show that I gave a [expletive], but I don't need to be telling them who to Draft. That's a little different than being respectful."

That boundary extends directly to how he interacts with Minor League coaching staffs regarding daily execution and instruction. While Triple-A Louisville manager Pat Kelly and organizational instructors make sure prospects understand foundational team concepts -- like first-and-third defense and bunt coverages -- Francona refuses to dictate how the Minor Leagues operate on a day-to-day basis.

"I don't need to be the roving, hitting guy in the Minor Leagues," Francona said. "I've been places where the manager [is consistently around, but ...] We're going to do ours the way we think it fits our skill set. The young kids, they need to learn the fundamentals, and they don't need to have me dictate those. That's not why I'm here."

Whether it's standing in the dugout early during Spring Training to cheer on affiliate champions or quietly supporting front-office staff behind the scenes, Francona's overarching message remains simple: establishing a winning standard isn't a switch you flip at the big league level -- it is a habit built from the ground up.

The big league club faces a tough schedule to close out the year, with a final 16-game slate composed entirely of postseason contenders. While a series sweep to the Dodgers halted recent momentum, the Reds showed real fight earlier in the stretch by taking three consecutive series from the Cubs, Padres and Brewers. For a young group, measuring up against playoff-bound teams offers valuable reps for the future.

Navigating the final weeks of September can test a team's focus, but Francona's approach to the daily grind remains relentlessly short-term. Rather than letting players drift into end-of-season mode, he treats every night as an opportunity to build habits that carry into next year.

"I don't ever [look too far ahead]. I mean, other than planning on who's going to pitch and things like that, always just trying to win tonight's game," Francona said. "That's how I've always felt."

With another three-game set against the division-leading Brewers starting Friday in Milwaukee, the Reds have a direct chance to play spoiler and set the tone for how they want to finish the year. For Francona, keeping the group locked in comes down to maintaining a strict day-to-day focus regardless of where the team sits in the standings.

"I just always feel like if you look ahead, you miss what's right in front of you," Francona said. "And if you look back too much -- other than learning -- you get like a hangover that doesn't help either. I think the best way to be productive is [to] stay in the moment. The better you can do that, the better off you'll be."

Twenty-five years ago today, Major League Baseball came to a standstill. On Sept. 10, 2001, the Reds dropped an 8-2 contest to the Cubs. The following morning, national tragedy struck, and baseball shut its doors for a full week as the nation grieved and processed the events of 9/11.

When play finally resumed on Sept. 18, the Reds earned a 6-5 victory over the Cubs, but the action on the field took a backseat to moments of solidarity.

Before first pitch, players, coaches, and personnel from both Cincinnati and Chicago stood side-by-side along the baselines during the national anthem in a display of unity. The Reds, alongside teams across the league, wore customized caps featuring the American flag and first responder patches to honor police officers, firefighters and medical personnel.

On a night where the outcome on the field mattered very little, the ballpark gave fans and players alike a place to stand together when the country needed it most-- bringing a brief sense of normalcy and healing back to a grieving nation.

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