CINCINNATI -- Outfielder JJ Bleday wasn't as consistent as he would have liked. Parts of his first season with the Reds in 2026 were messy after a dynamic first month.
Nevertheless, Bleday got his big league career back on track with Cincinnati while playing regularly.
“I thought there was a lot of good, especially at the beginning of the season when I got called up," Bleday said. "There was a lot of mediocrity as well. Overall, I thought it was pretty average of a season on my end. I could get better in a lot of aspects offensively, and a little bit more consistency.
“I’ve loved my time here this year. It’s a great organization, and I just love being here.”
In 133 games, Bleday batted .217 with a .740 OPS, a career-high 24 home runs and 58 RBIs while playing mostly in left field.
“I played pretty much every day when I got called back up here," Bleday said. "I was proud of myself for staying healthy. It’s still just trying to prove to myself that I am an everyday guy. Going forward, whatever happens this offseason, I still know I am that guy and that I can do that."
Non-tendered by the A's after a miserable 2025 season, Bleday signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the Reds on Dec. 27.
Bleday, who turns 29 on Nov. 10, showed that his left-handed swing was on track in Spring Training and put together a strong showing in camp. But the Reds chose two other lefty hitters for their bench spots in non-roster invitee Nathaniel Lowe -- who had an opt-out clause -- and Will Benson. Bleday was one of the final cuts, and he was sent to Triple-A Louisville.
Recalled on April 26 and playing against the Tigers, Bleday hit a home run in his first game for the Reds. Then came the best month of his life.
In May, when he was named NL Player of the Month, Bleday batted .301 with eight homers, 25 RBIs and a National League-leading 1.018 OPS. However, he couldn't replicate it long-term for the rest of the season. Beginning June 1, Bleday batted .190 with a .647 OPS over his final 103 games.
“I think a lot of it was just not hanging on to the mechanics throughout the season," he said. "You’re going to get fatigued. Your body is going to drag down, and you’re not going to be able to kind of repeat things as consistently as you would like. The toe tap as a timing mechanism, for example, it’s been hard for me to repeat that in my work. When I showed up this spring, it was kind of happening. I wasn’t trying to do that. It was a byproduct of what my body wanted to do at that time.”
During offseason work at his Philadelphia-area home, Bleday hoped to get back into that type of groove. He didn't think it was a strength or conditioning issue but more about finding the right drill to hone his swing.
“You don’t want to chase the dragon, though," he said. "It’s just finding a way to keep that throughout the whole season. That’s kind of where it went wrong. You get distracted in the box and start chasing and doing things you don’t want to be doing.”
There was still plenty of good to come from Bleday's overall year. He made improvements in his walk, strikeout and hard-hit percentages from 2025 to '26. In '25 with the A's, he was devastated by offspeed pitches, with a .060 average, .084 slugging and a -14 run value that was the weakest of any batter. This past season, Bleday batted .190, with a .314 slugging percentage and -1 run value.
And on Aug. 23 vs. the Diamondbacks, Bleday became the first Red to hit for the cycle since Elly De La Cruz on June 23, 2023.
Under club control for two more seasons, Bleday will seek again to earn an everyday role. Highly motivated to find more offense after being at or near the bottom of baseball in several categories, Cincinnati is expected to seek upgrades in its outfield this winter. But Bleday, Dane Myers and prospects Héctor Rodríguez and Carlos Jorge (the Reds' No. 15 prospect, per MLB Pipeline) are among those expected to compete for spots.
“I’m going to get after it pretty quickly [this offseason]," Bleday said. "You can only play this game for so long. I want to do my best to be ready for next year, whenever that is. I will be ready to go and make the most of that opportunity.”