"Yea, I would like there to be some clarity, for sure," Smith said ( via the team's website). "And I'll get that, we're going to have those conversations when we have a conversation later today. I'll kind of get that clarify from him and what their vision is and what they say. While Smith wouldn't explicitly endorse one position over the other, he did admit that he's naturally more comfortable playing at the guard position."
Presumed Plan : Wide open but I'll say Abrams plays SS while Nunez enters super sub role. Reasoning behind Presumed Plan : Nunez only played 24 games last year to add to his 23 in 2024. With that little time in the majors and very middling minor league batting stats, it's fair to wonder if he could in fact hit in the majors despite a very short impressive run late last year.
Elly De La Cruz has led the league in errors the past two seasons, but the Reds intend to keep him at shortstop, at least for the time being. President of baseball operations Nick Krall spoke to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com for a piece about Cincinnati's top prospects. With shortstop prospect Edwin Arroyo knocking on the door of the majors, Krall was asked if there were plans to move De La Cruz off the position. " As of right now, no," Krall told Sheldon.
An outstanding outfielder in his first three major league seasons, Russell moved to the infield full time in his fourth year. It was a disaster. "It was something I lost a lot of sleep over," said Russell, who led the majors with 34 errors that year. "After the season, I just collapsed for a few weeks." Then he picked himself up and went to work on getting better and in his second year as a shortstop he led the majors with 560 assists, led the National League in defensive WAR and made the first of three all-star teams.