CINCINNATI -- The Reds are giving Jake Fraley a chance to find more playing time.
The team designated the veteran outfielder for assignment on Sunday morning after the hyperextended knee he suffered the night before checked out healthy. Outfielder Will Benson was recalled from Triple-A Louisville in a corresponding move.
The 30-year-old Fraley was slashing .232/.332/.387 in 67 games this season, and with the Reds moving Noelvi Marte to right field full time and Austin Hays and Gavin Lux splitting time in left, there was little playing time available.
“There's some conversations with agents and stuff that are probably not for this room, but they happen,” Reds manager Terry Francona said before Sunday’s finale against the Brewers at Great American Ball Park.
And when Fraley did get the chance to play, like Saturday night, it was as a late-inning replacement. He was 1-for-17 in eight games in August.
Fraley suffered his knee injury in the 10th inning of Saturday’s 6-5, 11-inning loss to Milwaukee. The Reds were already working with a short lineup, with Francona wanting to stay away from catcher Tyler Stephenson, who was nursing an injured left thumb on his catching hand.
“Stephenson banged up his thumb,” Francona said before Sunday’s game. “So that's why [Jose] Trevino’s catching a day game after night game, because that doesn't usually happen.
“And we were talking [Saturday] night, we were a little concerned about playing short, with a two-man bench. And then through conversations -- and there's some that are kind of private, and some that I can't explain -- but [we] just came to the idea that giving Jake a chance to go play, where maybe he thinks he deserves to play ... is maybe better than him sitting the bench here.”
Fraley was one of the most dependable and likeable veterans in the clubhouse since coming to Cincinnati before the 2022 season. He hit 12 and 15 home runs in his first two seasons with the Reds, respectively, before falling off to five in 2024 and six this season.
“I don't really think there's ever an easy one, regardless of how guys are, because you're making decisions that alter their lives, and it's a big deal and we take it that way,” Francona said. “Not that I need an excuse to lose sleep last night, but you do think about it the whole time. I think the day when I stop thinking about it, I'll re-retire.”