In shocking news, the Cincinnati Reds’ will be without projected starter Matt McLain for 80 games after he was suspended for PED use on Friday.
The Cincinnati Reds will be without projected starting third baseman Matt McLain for nearly half the season after it was announced he was being suspended 80 games for a PED use violation.
The shocking news came from Jon Heyman of the New York Post:
Matt, one of the many talented players set to contribute to the Reds roster in 2024, made his major league debut in 2023. He played in 35 games for the Reds, hitting .316 with three homers, 15 RBI and six stolen bases.
His absence does clear up the glut of infielders for Cincinnati. Now, they can utilize Jeimer Candelario at third base, Elly De La Cruz at shortstop and Matt Matt at second base, and maybe they can mix in Jonathan India/Christian Encarnacion-Strand at first.
Because he hasn’t played enough games to graduate out of the MLB Top 100 prospect list, he enters the year as the No. 21 overall prospect in baseball (No. 1 in the organization).
The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:
Just 22 for all of the 2024 season, Mat is still a bit mercurial as a player, but he made strides in being a more consistent offensive performer last season. The Reds challenged him to make better swing decisions when he got to Triple-A and he showed more aptitude in making adjustments, which led to his callup to the big leagues. In the Minors, he’s never struck out much and continued to draw walks, which will help him improve his ability to tap into his considerable raw power. It still shows up mostly to his pull side, but he’s shown he has the acumen to drive the ball to all fields.
