Terry Francona Focused on Unlocking Full Potential of Reds’ 2026 Starting Rotation

The Cincinnati Reds are at the Winter Meetings trying to get the team ready to contend for a division title in 2026. Terry Francona made a guest appearance on MLB Network on Monday and discussed a myriad of subjects.

Getting a good starting pitcher to go deeper into a ballgame was one of the prominent questions Francona answered.

“I not only agree with what you're saying, but I respect it,” Francona said. “I think with our group, you try to let them grow into that. We have some guys like (Nick) Lodolo, (Andrew) Abbott, even Hunter Greene that haven’t made it through a full season yet. So you’re kind of balancing that. But I do not want our guys looking into the dugout after the fifth inning. I’d rather them be mad at me for taking them out of a game because they want to stay in.”

The Reds were 10th in MLB in average innings per start. They averaged 5 1/3 innings each time out. To their credit, though, only three teams had a better rate of quality starts than the Reds did. In order to record a quality start, you must toss at least six innings and allow three earned runs or less.

The league average starting pitcher tossed a quality start 33% of the time. Greene (58%), Lodolo (50%), Brady Singer (47%), and Abbott (38%) will factor prominently in the Reds' rotation next year, and all were above that league average threshold.

The challenge will be to get them to pitch deeper into the ballgame, as Cincinnati dominated whenever that happened.

Reds starters pitched at least seven innings in 24 games last year. The Reds had a 21-3 record in those games.

With more confidence in their ability to pitch deeper into the ballgame from Francona, the Reds' starting pitching staff may be even more valuable in 2026. According to FanGraphs, only the Phillies had more WAR from their starting pitchers than the Reds did in 2025.

You can watch the full interview here.

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