What Cincinnati Reds Fans Need to Know About JJ Bleday
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Coming off of a breakout 2024 campaign with the Oakland Athletics, JJ Bleday looked like he could end up being a piece of the A's core group of guys as they continued through their rebuild and made the move to Sacramento.
Obviously that didn't end up happening, as Bleday would be designated for assignment on November 18, and would elect free agency days later. The former A's outfielder ended up signing a one-year, $1.4 million deal with incentives with the Cincinnati Reds this week, per MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.
This is coming off a year in which he batted just .212 with a .294 OBP and a 90 wRC+ (100 is league average), but the writing seemed to be on the wall for his tenure with the A's back in May. It was in late May that the club decided to call up Denzel Clarke to play a tremendous defensive centerfield, even though there were still some questions about his bat.
Bleday was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make that move happen, though he'd be back at the beginning of June. At the time of the demotion, he'd hit just .204 with a .291 OBP to that point, and when he came back up, he'd end up hitting just .135 in 37 June at-bats.
On the bright side, after another stint in Vegas, Bleday would come up at the beginning of August and ended up hitting a little better. He'd bat .252 with a .306 on-base and a 115 wRC+. While it looks like he turned things around completely in the final two months, that's not exactly the case.
Reds should be slightly concerned
The Reds should be a little concerned, because most of the stats that ended up being accumulated in the second half came against left-handed pitching, as he was having a reverse split season. Bleday would hit .324 against left-handers on the year, compared to just a .180 average against right-handers.
Bleday was also able to hold an .870 OPS against lefties, along with a .370 OBP, but it's worth noting that those came with a .404 BABIP, which he's highly unlikely to repeat again in 2026. He has also not shown those types of splits in his career before, so it's difficult to peg him for a lefty masher in the long-term.
In 2024, when he broke out and batted .243 overall with a .324 OBP and a 120 wRC+, he was still hitting right-handers much better at .250, while struggling by comparison against southpaws at .216.
His 2024 season was a standout one for sure, and one that Reds fans will point to as a reason to hope that he can be something more than he was with the A's. Playing in Cincinnati, it's certainly possible that could be the case with that home ballpark to aid him a little bit.
But even when his bat is exceeding expectations, his defense has been subpar. In center this past season, he racked up a -8 DRS and a -5 OAA in just 443 2/3 innings of roaming. In 2024 when he was playing center every day for the A's at the Coliseum, he put up a -19 DRS, but just a -3 OAA.
The eye test would say he's a bit of a work in progress at any of the three outfield spots, so the hope for the Reds would be to hide him in a corner and hope for the best with his glove, and with his bat.
He has plenty of talent, and showed the ability to go the other way in 2024, which was a big key to his success, but there just hasn't been enough consistency from him in his big league career to expect him to be a huge contributor. It could certainly happen with a change of scenery, but it shouldn't be the expectation.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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