Category: Sports News

If Sonny Gray leaves, five pitchers Red Sox should pursue in free agency originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox should prioritize adding power to their lineup this offseason, but they may also need to fill a significant void in their starting rotation.

Veteran right-hander Sonny Gray is set to become a free agent after a sensational debut season with Boston. The soon-to-be 37-year-old led MLB with 18 wins while compiling a 2.72 ERA and 1.148 WHIP across 29 starts.

Gray was the Red Sox’ de facto ace while Garrett Crochet missed most of the 2026 campaign due to injury. Without him, the projected 2027 rotation looks something like this:

1. Garrett Crochet, LHP
2. Payton Tolle, LHP
3. Ranger Suarez, LHP
4. Brayan Bello, RHP
5. Jake Bennett, LHP

Not too shabby, but extremely left-handed-heavy. Plus, Bello was astoundingly bad as a starter this year with a 7.18 ERA over 11 outings.

So, who could potentially replace Gray in the Red Sox rotation next season? Here are a handful of intriguing right-handers expected to hit the open market this winter:

Michael King

• 2026 stats: 12-10, 3.21 ERA, 1.178 WHIP, 159 SO, 70 BB, 185 IP (32 starts with San Diego Padres)
• Age: 32

King bounced back from an injury-plagued 2025 with a stellar 2026 for San Diego. As a result, he’ll likely be one of the pricier free-agent pitchers this offseason.

That shouldn’t dissuade the Red Sox from pursuing the New England native and Boston College alum. King is as consistent as they come when healthy, and if he declines his $28 million option for 2027, he’d be an exceptional addition to the middle of Boston’s already-strong rotation.

Kevin Gausman

• 2026 stats: 9-12, 4.51 ERA, 1.272 WHIP, 184 SO, 47 BB, 177.2 IP (23 starts with Toronto Blue Jays, nine starts with Chicago Cubs)
• Age: 36

Gausman is coming off a down season during which he was traded from Toronto to Chicago before the deadline. It was the first time since 2019 that the veteran finished a season with an ERA above 4.00.

That makes Gausman primed for a bounce-back campaign at 36 years old, just like Gray was upon being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals last winter. Even if Gausman can’t put up Cy Young-caliber numbers like Gray, he can be counted on to post. He has made at least 31 starts in each of his last six seasons.

Nick Martinez

• 2026 stats: 15-6, 3.10 ERA, 1.094 WHIP, 109 SO, 26 BB, 180 IP (31 starts with Tampa Bay Rays)
• Age: 36

After a rocky 2025 with Cincinnati, Martinez returned to form with a career year for the Rays. The nine-year veteran pitched exclusively as a starter for the first time in his career and blew away expectations while earning his first All-Star nod.

Martinez has a $20 million mutual option with the Rays for 2027, but mutual options are rarely picked up. He should be near the top of Boston’s wish list if he’s available.

Casey Mize

• 2026 stats: 6-10, 4.32 ERA, 1.226 WHIP, 110 SO, 38 BB, 131.1 IP (16 starts with Detroit Tigers, 10 starts with Padres)
• Age: 30

The 2026 season was a mixed bag for Mize. A first-time All-Star in 2025, he looked even better with the Tigers this year, posting a 2.70 ERA over 16 starts.

His strong start made him a valuable trade chip for Detroit, and he was shipped to the Padres for two prospects, including left-hander Kash Mayfield, San Diego’s No. 2-ranked prospect.

Mize struggled mightily with the Padres, posting a 7.46 ERA in 10 starts. That raises obvious concerns as the former No. 1 overall draft pick enters free agency, but the upside he showed with Detroit makes him an intriguing option for the back end of Boston’s rotation.

Freddy Peralta

• 2026 stats: 10-11, 4.42 ERA, 1.325 WHIP, 156 SO, 63 BB, 169 IP (22 starts with New York Mets, 10 starts with Rays)
• Age: 31

The former Milwaukee Brewers star struggled in Queens, but nothing really went right for the Mets in 2026. With the Rays, Peralta looked much more like his All-Star self, sporting a 3.25 ERA and 1.012 WHIP across 10 starts.

If you believe Peralta’s midseason turnaround with Tampa wasn’t a mirage, picking him as Gray’s replacement is a no-brainer. His track record in his nine years in the league speaks for itself.

MILWAUKEE –– Shohei Ohtani might be absorbing much of the negative attention around the Dodgers lately.

But it’s catcher Will Smith who has been the team’s biggest offensive problem so far this postseason.

In a 2–1 loss to the Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night, the perennial All-Star’s recent struggles finally came into sharper, harsher focus.

He went hitless for the fourth time in five games in these playoffs. He bounced into a double play –– the first of three for the Dodgers on the night –– that killed a potential first-inning rally against Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski.

On the bright side, he drew a walk and didn’t strike out (something he had done seven times in the last three games).

However, the veteran slugger is now a glaring 1-for-19 in this year’s playoffs –– prompting manager Dave Roberts to be asked whether the 31-year-old needs to be dropped from the No. 3 spot of the batting order.

His answer was somewhat of a surprise.

“It’s a fair question,” Roberts acknowledged. “But right now, I still like him at the top of the order.”

The numbers, even in a small postseason sample, tell a different story to this point, with Teoscar Hernández and maybe even Andy Pages playing like better options for such a crucial part of the lineup.

Hernández had two hits Sunday, raising his postseason average to .250. Pages drove in the Dodgers’ only run, and is now 5-for-11 with three RBIs in the last three games.

Smith, meanwhile, seems to have lost the swing that helped him hit .354 over his last 16 regular seasons, following a three-month absence earlier this summer with a neck injury.

He was not in the Dodgers’ clubhouse postgame during the period that was open to reporters.

“He’s not swinging the bat well,” Roberts acknowledged. “It’s just, it’s hard because the body of work. He just has that knack to get a hit –– to get a big hit.”

Indeed, no one (other than maybe Miguel Rojas) had a bigger hit for the Dodgers last October, when Smith belted a go-ahead, championship-deciding home run in extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series.

The moment cemented his status as a franchise legend. It affirmed his reputation as one of the league’s most overlooked star hitters.

It’s part of the reason why the Dodgers aren’t even considering potentially taking him out of the lineup now, either.

“That’s just not going to happen,” Roberts said definitively while batting away that possibility.

A drop in the batting order, on the other hand, could (and probably should) be under consideration. In what figures to be a low-scoring, tightly contested NLCS, the team can only afford a black hole from the three-spot for so much longer.

And five games in, the gravity of his slump is weighing on the team.

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The Guardians have announced their roster for the ALCS, making one change from the 26 guys they brought to the ALDS.

The Guardians have swapped right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi on to the roster for the longer ALCS (with more back-to-back games) and left utility man Daniel Schneemann off the roster.

There was some speculation about if Tanner Bibee would make the roster, but he’s still here after a ROUGH end to the season and terrible brief outing in game four of the ALDS. I don’t think there was a clearly better option for Bibee’s spot, but we will see what kind of exposure Stephen Vogt allows Bibee and unused Matt Festa and Cecconi to see for the series ahead.

Again, I would have liked to see the Guardians take a shot at getting some left-handed bench thump for this series (from Kyle Manzardo or Cooper Ingle, given Ralphy Velazquez is probably not an option at this point), but, hey, they just won a playoff series, so I have to trust their plan for the moment. Just feels like it would be nice to have one more home-run threat to help in potential pinch-hitting spots.

It will be important, given the length of this series and the lack of convenient off-days, for Vogt to use almost all of his 14 pitchers. Finding the right spots to let Cecconi, Festa and Bibee have a chance to contribute may become a crucial part of the Guardians’ chance at upsetting the Rays in the days ahead.

The promise of a low-scoring game was fulfilled in the NLCS opener, as the Brewers needed only a pair of runs to improve on last postseason’s outcome, having been swept by the Dodgers the last time out. There was plenty of frustration to go around for the Dodgers offensively—especially so considering how effective they were in getting Jacob Misiorowski out of the game early, which ties into the glass-half-full outlook they can take from this loss in what always felt like it was going to be a complicated series.

Through nine innings of Game 1 against the Brewers, the Dodgers offense reached base safely more often than it did in any of the three wins against the Braves in the NLCS. Combining walks and hits, the Dodgers got on base 13 times, including seeing at least one hitter reach base in eight of the nine frames.

This traffic amounted to next to nothing because the issues with runners in scoring position carried over. And unlike in the series against the Braves, the Dodgers’ power was nowhere to be found, as all of their seven hits were singles. Nevertheless, the Dodgers could’ve easily had a better scoring output without power if not for timely double plays that the Brewers relied on to end not one, not two, but three separate innings—most notably getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the second.

As frustrating as this performance might have been, to be this threatening so often against the best the Brewers have to offer could easily be seen as an encouraging sign. Focusing specifically on the power or lack thereof, regardless of how phenomenal the Brewers’ pitching is, this lack of thump was most likely a one-off scenario for an offense that has more than nine hitters capable of punishing a mistake. It’s extremely plausible that the Dodgers’ offense will do more with less before this series is over, maybe as early as Game 2.

Moving on to specifics, with Shohei Ohtani getting his occasional hit here and there, Will Smith has been left holding the bag as the core piece most struggling in this current version of the Dodgers’ offense. Smith was one of the few starting hitters in this game who didn’t record a hit, but he did, however, hit the ball hard in all three of his at-bats with nothing to show for it. The Dodgers’ most disappointing hitter of the regular season, Kyle Tucker, looked locked in, and although he also didn’t record a hit, the quality of the at-bats was impressive—including a couple of walks against Jacob Misiorwoski and Trevor Megill.

Dave Roberts’ respect for the Brewers’ relievers was evident in his lineup construction with a righty/lefty approach one through nine. In that spirit, potential impact off the bench might be key, and there was promise in it as well. Josue De Paula was once again asked to take a key at-bat late in a playoff game and delivered his part. The young outfielder pinch-hit for Kiké Hernández in the ninth with Trevor Megill on the mound, and he helped get the tying run in scoring position by working a two-out walk, ultimately stranded on a Mookie Betts flyout. The ability to rely on a patient hitter of his quality off the bench adds a layer of danger to this offense.

Every team needs to have a player that isn’t quite a starter, but plays a lot more than a player considered strictly a backup. The official term is “utility player”, but it does feel like there needs to be something more than just that title.

“Not quite starter”

“Almost starter”

Whatever it is, Edmundo Sosa was the embodiment of that job, gathering over 250 plate appearances in each of the past four seasons.

2026 stats: 250 PA, .247/.283/.429, 9 HR, 44 RBI, 2.8 BB%, 21.6 K%, 89 wRC+, 0.8 fWAR

What went right

As stated previously, each team needs a player that can fill in most anywhere. After adding outfielder to his resume in 2025, he actually started there the most this year, seeing his name on the lineup card in left field 32 times. Is that a good thing? Not really, but that’s more an indictment on the construction of the roster than anything else.

Sosa did more or less what we have expected him to do all these years he has been here. He’s played a good defense, popped a few home runs, stole a few bases, filled in where necessary.

Right?

What went wrong

Listen, we all know what Sosa is going to do when he goes to the plate. He’s going to swing as hard as possible at any baseball thrown in the vicinity of home plate. His walk rate, even in its meager form, is not a career low for him. He had one a mere tenth of a percentage point lower in 2023, so it’s not unprecedented to see him never take a walk.

It just felt like so much this year, his at bats were not truly productive ones. There would always be the occasional hit that won a game or tied a game in the past, but this year, there weren’t that many “B*tches love Sosa” moments that happened during the season. It was though we expected him to come up short and he didn’t disappoint.

There were flashes of it.

There is even plenty of evidence that Sosa might be the most well liked teammate the team has. He’s just about the perfect player for the role he fills, but there was just a feeling of wanting a little bit more from him in 2026. Each time he was exposed to more playing time, his production fell off. His defense was still fine, but it might be time to confine him to one spot and let that glove flourish.

Final grade: C+

He was just fine, hence the tick above average.

He’s probably going to convince someone to give him a starting job and to be honest, he’s earned it. So long as a team realizes that they are going to get someone whose bat will hover in the 85-95 wRC+ range, his glove should bring enough value that he can bat towards the bottom of a lineup and be productive.

Should his market never really form and the team decides to move on from Alec Bohm, there would be worse things for them to do than give Sosa a shot at starting at third base until Aidan Miller is ready to join the club (assuming he gets to the majors as a third baseman first before he becomes a shortstop).

The Atlanta Braves are now into the offseason, which means that it’s time for General Manager Alex Anthopoulos to speak with the media and give his thoughts on both the season that was and what’s on the horizon for the team going forward. There’s a lot (and boy, do I mean a lot) to discuss from the time he spent speaking with the local media via Zoom and as you can imagine, things ran the gamut from the usual GM-speak to some general thoughts on the club, all the while giving everybody the slightest chance to do some speculation about the direction that the Braves are going in for the future — whatever the future may hold due to the impending labor war on the horizon.

I did ask AA about what stood out to him about this team relative to the expectations that he had for this ballclub back on Opening Day and his answer kind of ran parallel to what manager Walt Weiss had been saying about his ideal clubhouse.

“I probably started focusing a little bit too much on talent and less on how the pieces would fit. I was pretty determined this offseason to get back to that…We really got back to really focusing on makeup, character, team fit with everybody that we brought in…That’s probably the one thing I’m most proud of.”

“On paper, we obviously have a lot of talented players but I’ve always said that the one thing that you shouldn’t get wrong is the makeup and the character. You do enough work and make enough phone calls, you’re probably not going to make a mistake on that one. Guys might get hurt and may not play well and you’re going to make those mistakes but in terms of knowing who you bring into the room, you should bat 1.000 on that one. Maybe occasionally someone surprises you and they slide under the line [of character expectations].”

“I’m really proud of the fact that when it came to that, we got back to who we were and what we’re about. We’ve talked about the word ‘culture…’ The culture is the players that you put into it….You bring in the right guys, they come together, those 26 each year (because it’s never the same), they set the culture. They set the attitude, they set the vibes. I feel like we were successful in getting back to that and sometimes you have to…continue to evolve and continue to self-reflect. I feel like we got back to that, which was pretty important. It doesn’t mean you’re in a World Series each year but I love what we were about and the way that the group came together.”

AA did mention that he was proud of this Braves club for keeping it close against the Dodgers in the NLDS when he was asked during the press conference about whether or not he had any regrets that he’d take with him to the offseason. “All the games, except for the last one, really through the seventh inning, they were close,” stated AA. “Obviously Game 2 we won, Game 1 we had the tying run at the plate late so they were all close except for the last one. We had some moments (obviously with guys on base) but we were right there. You wanna get the big hit and you wanna score more runs but you also know you’re facing great arms on the other side too. You’re trying to walk the fine line between ‘Should we have done this’ and being able to respect the other side.”

“You can walk through so many things but you also respect the fact that you’re going to face a great team. The series was close and each game (except for the last one where we didn’t really threaten at the end) was close.”

While plenty of the focus in the aftermath of the Postseason has been on the lack of offense near the end, Anthopoulos has chosen to take the long view of things. He repeatedly mentioned that the team finished in the top 10 in batting average (.246, which was tied for 10th with both the Diamondbacks and the Nationals) and slugging (.409, tied for sixth with the Yankees) while also mentioning that some work needed to be done with their on-base percentage, which was certainly below average at .309 and 28th place in all of baseball.

Still, it doesn’t seem like it’s the type of thing where Alex Anthopoulos would be putting pressure on Walt Weiss to potetially make a change at hitting coach. “If we had a good year, I do believe in continuity from a coaching staff,” stated AA when he was asked about his thoughts on Jeremy Hefner and Tim Hyers, specifically. “That’s not to say that you keep everybody for the sake of keeping everybody. If you think you can get better, you need to make adjustments. I haven’t had any conversations with Walt — this will be me and Walt’s first offseason together and there’s no rush on that type of stuff.”

“I think continuity is important for a few reasons. One, new coach comes in, you don’t know them and you don’t get the trust factor immediately,” continued AA. “It takes time. There’s times where you’re willing to do that and wait and obviously we did it this year with a ton of new staff but it takes time,” continued Anthopoulos. “I think there’s upside for guys to continue to get better now that potentially some of them are going into year two. In terms of [Hefner] and [Hyers] again, we were top-3 in the NL in basically everything [pitching-wise]. From an offensive standpoint, we were top-10 in the Majors in a lot of things. Second half of [2025] our on-base was lot better, it’s a lot of the same guys. This past year, on-base was low but we did all these other things well. We obviously have room to get better so I’d say that I think continuity is important…I think eveyrbody did a really good job and I’m pleased with all of them.”

At multiple points during the press conference, AA was grilled about the positions that he’d be going after during the offseason, with one question going as far as to ask Anthopoulos straight-up if they were going into the offseason looking for specifically two starting pitchers and a left fielder. As you would imagine, AA was cagey about it and stayed cagey as other media members continued to push the issue — especially when it came to players who may or may not be available via trade.

“You gotta remember, our players are going to see that stuff. ‘Hey, he only mentioned these 1 or 2 guys. Why didn’t he include me?’ Now I have an agent calling me and a player calling me…There’s zero upside to that. I get the question and I get trying to piece it all together but I will tell you this: We will go into the offseason open-minded about all kinds of stuff,” stated AA. “That’s how you have discussions and that’s how you get creative. THat’s how things go. You never know — I’ve always said that everyone has a price. There’s always a deal even on a player that you’re unlikely or reluctant to ove. At some point, you include guys. I have no idea where those things are going to go but I don’t think we’re in a position to rule anything out. I just don’t believe in doing it.”

AA did go on to mention that the Braves are planning on using their exclusive negotiation rights with both Mauricio Dubón and Tyler Mahle to the best of their ability, so they’re going to give it a good shot when it comes to retaining those two. When it comes to the team options on both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies, AA didn’t commit to a decision for either player but I’d imagine that it’s safe to assume that both of them will be back.

Anthopoulos did also directly address the Jurickson Profar situation and while he did mention that Profar is under contract for 2027, he definitely stopped short of guaranteeing that Profar would indeed be back next season.

“Those are conversations that we’re going to have,” stated AA. “We know it’s coming, clearly. We know he’s under contract for 2027, we knew the suspension was gonna be a year. That’s obviously a topic we’re going to have to address and talk about, we haven’t had that discussion yet.”

“I wouldn’t be prepared to give you a definitive answer one way or another,” continued Anthopoulos. “That’s not to be cryptic or hedge. I know it’s tough because you guys can only work with what I say…There wasn’t anything for us to do or address [when it came to Profar’s suspension], he was out for the season…What I can tell you is that we’re going to have to sit and talk internally across the board about the whole thing. This is now the time to have those discussions.”

Anthopoulos also talked about Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider and while our article from Sunday touched upon those (and other) topics of discussion during the press conference, further detail really illuminated the matter. “Strider was in Florida throwing bullpens and feeling good,” said AA. “Again, you’re still far away from rehab games, innings and things like that. Schwellenbach had surgery. I think from a planning standpoint, I don’t think it’d be responsible to say ‘Okay, those guys are going to start 30 games and throw 180 innings,’ right? That’s something we’re definitely going to have to account for and talk about when it comes to where we’re going to get our innings next season.”

“I remember telling Grant Holmes even last offseason at the beginning that how he progresses was going to tell us what his potential role would be. As we sit here today, I don’t think you’re going to see us come in and say that we expect those guys to be locks in the rotation with Sale,” said AA as he continued to explain the situation. “I don’t think that’d be a responsible thing to say. We know what they can be when they’re healthy and they’re right and the upside is off the charts but right now because of the lost years for basically both…we’ll just see how the offseason progresses at this point. It’s not something going into November that we’ll have any clarity on going into next Spring.”

AA also seemed to confirm the idea that Didier Fuentes would be starting games in the future — with the future being 2027 (or whenever the next season is) if his audition for a starting rotation role goes well during spring training. “We view him as a starter long-term,” confirmed AA. “We’ve been consistent with that. We know he can be a great reliever — we just saw it. On the one hand, you have a bird in the hand that you know you’ve got a really impactful bullpen arm that we believe it’s real and that he can continue to do this — health-permitting, of course.”

“Those are things we have to weigh. We think there’s tremendous upside,” continued AA. “It’s nice to know you’ve got an impact arm out of the ‘pen but you also know that there’s tremendous upside. He can put it together as a starter since he’s still so young. The development of both the changeup and the slider are pretty encouraging.”

“What we don’t know is the workload. Can he handle 25-plus starts, 150 innings. All those things, we’ll have to have those conversations. And then, can you do that in ‘27? Are you going to go from 70-plus innings and jump to [a higher workload] and those are all things that we’ll have to talk about.”

The General Manager was really gracious with his time on Sunday, as he took questions for an hour — something that is definitely out of the ordinary. While Anthopoulos has never been shy about sharing his opinions on the team, we were certainly in uncharted territory when it came to this particular press conference. That just goes to show just how intriguing the Braves are at the moment. The current NL East Champions have plenty of questions surrounding them with an uncertain offseason looming. It’ll truly be interesting to see how things shake out for this team going forward — and whether or not we’ll have to wait out a long lockout in order to get questions to those answers. We’ll see what happens.

The offseason between 2005 and 2006 was one of great transition for the Cincinnati Reds. You’ll be shocked to be reminded of their disappointing 2005 season – Dave Miley got fired near the midpoint and they went just 1-7 over their final 8 games to finish 73-89 and in last place in the NL Central.

That winter, though, they went into overhaul mode. Veteran 1B Sean Casey was dealt to Pittsburgh and Scott Hatteberg was signed to replace him. Slugging outfielder Wily Mo Peña was flipped to Boston for rotation cornerstone Bronson Arroyo. And the first week of the 2006 season saw them swing a deal for mercurial Cleveland infielder Brandon Phillips in a move that helped solidify their later runs to a pair of NL Central titles.

On January 8th, 2006, Cincinnati signed veteran shortstop Rich Aurilia in free agency in a move that turned out to be more than worth it. Just one day before that, the lone obvious piece of the current future of the Reds was born in Miranda, Venezuela.

That last note hasn’t yet helped the current iteration of the Reds begin their latest overhaul, but catching prospect Alfredo Duno is firmly on their radar as they enter this vital offseason. Veteran catcher Tyler Stephenson will become a free agent within a handful of days of the upcoming World Series, and only Will Banfield and career backup Jose Trevino are on the roster as catching options under team control for 2027.

Trevino missed time during 2026 and hit just .217/.221/.336 in 156 PA for the Reds last season. He’s the one likely penciled in as the ‘starter’ at the moment, and remember this is a Reds club that finished a) in last place in the Central in and b) 28 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers club that just won Game 1 of the NLCS last night over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Upgrading over Stephenson is one of just a billion needs on this roster build, and they’re entering the offseason process having already taken a massive step back at catcher on-paper.

That brings us back to Duno, who at 20 years old already has the spotlight on him as the presumptive Next Big Thing to help turn around the fortunes of this stagnant franchise.

For one, he’s big-big. Listed at 6’2” and 210 lbs, he’s pretty clearly a great bit larger than that. That hasn’t yet precluded his advancement defensively behind the plate, though, and he’s got an arm back there that projects to play well going forward. It’s the offensive upside he provides at a position generally reserved for defense-first proclivities that have him atop the Reds prospect lists and near the top of Top 100 lists overall though, and in 2026 he hit .322/.406/.488 in 138 PA after making it up to AA Chattanooga. That’s just the latest part of a minor league career that’s seen him hit .285/.414/.499 across 1262 PA, including a breakout 2025 season with the Daytona Dragons in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League where he slugged .518 with more walks (95) than strikeouts (91) – and famously had a three-homer game in the Arizona Fall League playoffs.

He reached AA this year and acquitted himself rather well in an admittedly small-ish sample there. Had he performed differently anywhere else, you’d be welcome to consider it a potential outlier there, but he hit there the way he’s hit every single place he’s hit before, too. That lends one to assume that if he hit AA pitching in 2026, the Reds are going to give him the chance to hit AAA in 2027, and hitting AAA pitching puts one on the doorstep of Major League Baseball action.

So, it’s hard not to ignore that at the same time Cincinnati’s main catcher reaches free agency, Cincinnati’s top catching prospect sits on the doorstep of an MLB debut.

Catchers used to be the one position where teams notoriously slow-played advancement to the big leagues. Calling games, the defensive responsibilities, and the rigor of squatting all the time made prepping for one’s first 162 game grind more difficult than at any other position. However, with the DH in play in the National League and PitchCom devices to help with relaying signs and signals, there has been a wave of young MLB catchers breaking into the league at ages that once sounded outlandish.

Ethan Salas, six months younger than Duno, made it into 16 games at the tail end of the San Diego Padres season as a 20 year old and featured in their recent playoff run. Samuel Basallo debuted at age 20 for Baltimore during the 2025 season and by his age-21 year they’d already chosen to move on from stalwart Adley Rutschman. Duno will turn 21 in January.

With a dearth of power bats on the farm, a clear need at the position, and the dwindling team control of superstar Elly De La Cruz, it’s easy to want the Reds to push Duno’s advancement. They aren’t going to do that too much, obviously, but if he hits well at AAA to begin 2027 there’s every reason to believe the Reds will factor him into their big league plans at some point later in the summer. That makes finding a complement to Trevino to begin the year a bit perilous as there is little long-term outlook for a backstop not named Duno going forward.

The lone caveat there is one Sal Stewart, Cincinnati’s 2026 Rookie of the Year candidate who settled in at 1B almost daily after Nathaniel Lowe was dealt away at the trade deadline. He spent ample time at 3B and 2B earlier in the season – the positions where he played in the minors coming up – and any move back to being more flexible defensively for him would open up more PA at 1B and DH for any potential catcher. The Reds often used Stephenson at both 1B and DH in his years on the club, for instance, and keeping that door open for any catcher being brought in could be the one way to entice something more than a career backup hoping for an actual big-league deal to be the player they can bring in for 2027.

It’s still early to get your hopes up for where Duno will hit in the Reds lineup, but not too early to dream about where he fits within the current roster. If he continues on the path he’s laid out so far, he’s going to be a big leaguer in 2027 one way or another.