Reds leaning even further into the identity they built last year
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.
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.
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 (broken wrist), second baseman Matt Mclain (going on second opinion on shoulder) and third baseman Noelvi Marte (80-game PED suspension) at the start of the year and with a thin bench, the Reds are facing a lot of adversity.
The big talking point in the clubhouse over the past 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,” 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.”