CINCINNATI -- Outfielder Rece Hinds did everything he could and more to be deserving of making the Reds big league roster out of Spring Training. Hinds was even told as much by manager Terry Francona even as he informed him he was one of the last players cut from camp on March 21.
Hinds had been up and down between the Reds and Triple-A Louisville since his 2024 debut. This demotion was the hardest to take.
“For sure. I went in there, completed the goals I put for myself," Hinds said on Tuesday. "Obviously, it wasn’t what the Reds wanted at that point. I knew I was going to get my chance at some point. Now, I’m here.”
"We know he wasn’t pleased," Francona said of that final cut meeting. "We said, ‘We want you to play. We don’t want you to sit on the bench.’ To his credit, he goes and plays and plays really well.”
Hinds was recalled from Louisville after the Reds optioned the struggling Noelvi Marte on Monday. He was in the starting lineup, playing right field, in Tuesday's series opener vs. the Giants.
After batting .410 with a 1.414 OPS and five homers in 21 games during spring, Hinds carried his success back to Louisville and batted .354 with a 1.246 OPS, five homers and 16 RBIs in 13 games.
“His at-bats have been better. They have been more consistent," Francona said. "I think he’s understanding as he grows and matures [about] being accountable on the outfield and on the bases. That’s what I noticed this spring -- how well he ran the bases and things like that. We don’t expect him to come here and be the savior. I just want him to play the best baseball he can.”
As a team offensively, the Reds are near the bottom of MLB in several categories and could use Hinds' bat if he can maintain his recent run of success. But he's also worked to show that he can be a complete player -- including on defense, where he struggled during his multiple callups in 2025.
Hinds spent his offense working on his defense and getting reps in the outfield at Kennesaw State University. At his first meeting with them as camp opened, he let Francona and general manager Brad Meador know he planned to show he was more of an all-around player.
“I was like, 'My goal is to show I am an elite defender out in the outfield,'" Hinds said. "I put in that work in the offseason. Countless days over at KSU in Atlanta just catching fly balls from their guys hitting BP and just working on my footwork.”
Hinds has since displayed strong defense.
“He’s understood that we wanted him to be more reliable … because he has all the tools," Francona said. "Not miss cutoff men, throw to the right base and I think he’s really made an effort to do that.”
Over multiple callups in '25, Hinds batted .116 in 15 games. He had a 47.7 percent strikeout rate and a whiff rate of 52.7 percent. Finding a groove has been difficult for the right-handed hitter who burst onto the scene in 2024 by hitting five home runs in his first six Major League games.
“The biggest thing is I wanted to show the consistency. And by doing that, you’ve just got to trust your routine," Hinds said. "I’ve had that confidence that I’ve instilled in myself these past couple of years just to prove that I’m not that one guy that is just a power hitter.
“Seeing myself being able to lay off certain pitches and really stick to a gameplan and stick to a zone that I’m looking for. I think it just grows that confidence more and more and that approach more and more.”