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Friedl may be the most prominent minor-league free agent on the open market this offseason after passing through waivers unclaimed last month. The 31-year-old hit just .172/.255/.255 with four homers and five steals across 272 plate appearances for Cincinnati this past season, a steep decline from the 18-homer, 27-steal campaign he put together back in 2023. He should still be able to latch on somewhere as a quality fourth outfielder, with a chance to compete for a more significant role in spring training.

Friedl would have lost a few bucks by declining the assignment, so he’ll remain in the Reds organization for the rest of the week. Barring a surprising decision to put him back on the 40-man, he’ll become a minor league free agent.

A disappointing season for Friedl gets even worse on Sunday as he gets booted from the Reds’ 40-man roster to clear a spot for the return of Carson Spiers. The 31-year-old outfielder should pass through waivers unclaimed, at which point he may opt to hit the open market.

Friedl has been demoted to make room for recent waiver wire additional Oswaldo Cabrera on Cincinnati’s roster. The 31-year-old outfielder has hit just .172/.255/.255 with four homers and five steals in 272 plate appearances.

Friedl, formerly the Reds’ starting center fielder, is batting just .158/.242/.234 in 253 plate appearances this season. He’s owed only about $750,000 for the rest of this season, with no commitment beyond that (though a team could keep him in arbitration). That might entice some team to pick him up as a bench guy. If that happens, the Reds could recall Noelvi Marte to help out in the outfield.

At this point, it’s pretty clear that Friedl has been supplanted by Noelvi Marte in the team’s starting lineup, as Friedl has started just once in the team’s last six games despite facing five right-handers during that stretch. It’s Marte in right field once again and batting eighth for the Reds on Friday evening against Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes.

Freidl had been 0-for-7 since being recalled when Blake Dunn got hurt. It’d be for the best if Matt McLain proved to be strong enough in center to play over Friedl, but Friedl will likely continue to start against righties for now. He’s batting .181/.259/.271 in 51 major league games this season.

Friedl was optioned out at the beginning of June after flailing to a miserable .179/.259/.256 slash line with just two homers and five steals through his first 178 plate appearances. He appears to have gotten back on track at the Triple-A level where he hit .271/.370/.471 with three homers, five RBI and a pair of stolen bases over 81 plate appearances in 18 games. He’ll have a chance to see every day at-bats against right-handers with Blake Dunn (elbow) landing on the injured list on Sunday. He’s starting in center and batting eighth against Mitch Keller and the Pirates on Sunday afternoon.

It’s been a rough season for Friedl, who is hitting .179/.259/.256 with two home runs and five steals in 178 plate appearances. He’s still playing solid center field, but the Reds want to see if Noelvi Marte can replicate some of that defense with far more offensive upside.

That’s three of Cincinnati’s last five games that Friedl has sat in as the Reds are riding hot hand JJ Bleday, including two games against right-handed starters. If you were holding on to hope in medium-sized leagues that he could turn around a .184/.268/.270 start in his first 39 games, the Reds aren’t going to make it easy for you to hold him.

There wasn’t much doubt that Friedl would be back in center tonight, but the Reds could have maybe dropped him in the lineup with him hitting just .185/.267/.274. Still, as poor as that is, it’s not like the team has much in the way of alternatives, aside from maybe just going with Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart first and second, rather than third and fourth. But that’s not Terry Francona’s style. The Reds have been giving Noelvi Marte more time in center in Triple-A of late, so Friedl might need to get things going soon.

Friedl scored the Reds’ lone run in a game where they were stymied by Mitch Keller and were otherwise blown out by the Pirates. We’re at least starting to see the inklings of Friedl getting going after a horrific start of the season. Over his last six games, he has two home runs and three doubles. Baby steps here.

It was his lone hit of the contest, but it gave Cincinnati a 3-2 lead in the fifth that put them ahead for good. Friedl has sat against the past five lefties the Reds have faced, but he’s hit leadoff in every game against a right-hander this season.

He also stole a base. The go-ahead double with the Twins down 3-1 against Andrew Morris was Friedl’s first extra-base hit in 92 plate appearances this season and quadrupled his RBI total from one to four. He hadn’t had a three-RBI game since Sept. 2024.

At least the bunt helped lead to the go-ahead run in the ninth. Noelvi Marte has to be extra bitter about how the Reds handled him given the state of the rest of the team’s outfield. Freidl is batting .137 with zero extra-base hits in 87 plate appearances. He was a productive hitter in 2023 and ’25, but his exit velocity numbers have always been pretty hideous and now he’s striking out more than ever. Most veteran hitters off to slow starts at this point of the season are very good bets to bounce back. Friedl, though, has always walked a thin line, and his return to being adequate isn’t assured.

Friedl took Colorado reliever Jimmy Herget deep with two outs in the fourth inning for his first big fly of the spring. The 30-year-old centerfielder remains Cincinnati’s primary leadoff option ahead of middle-of-the-order forces Elly De La Cruz and Eugenio Suárez heading into the regular season, which makes him a decent OF5 option in shallow mixed leagues.

Friedl and Spencer Steer are both eligible for arbitration for the first time, but Friedl is settling $200,000 less than Steer, even though he’s coming of the better season and is at 8.1 career fWAR, versus 4.5 for Steer. Freidl hit .261/.364/.378 in 685 plate appearances as the Reds’ starting center fielder and leadoff man last season. It looks like he’ll carry both roles into 2026; there was some talk of bringing in a center fielder and moving him to left, but it seems the team considers him the better center field option than newcomer JJ Bleday.

Friedl knocked a base hit and scored a run in the third inning. He later led off the seventh with a solo homer off Aaron Civale. The 30-year-old outfielder is up to 13 homers and 79 runs scored while slashing .259/.362/.373 across 653 plate appearances.