TJ Friedl DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Cincinnati Reds outfielders TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley are not in the starting lineup on Sunday as the Reds will face San Francisco southpaw Robbie Ray. Friedl has started in each of the first two games of the series in center field. Serving as the leadoff man, he went 2-for-9 at the plate with an RBI. As a result, Blake Dunn will cover center field, but Matt McLain will move up to the top of the order. Fraley has also started in each of the first two contests but did not tally a hit. He will be replaced by Santiago Espinal in right field, and he will bat second. Fantasy managers should expect both Fraley and Friedl to return to the starting nine on Monday when they face Texas right-hander Kumar Rocker. Espinal and Dunn are best to fade in DFS this afternoon, facing Ray.

Cincinnati Reds outfielder TJ Friedl was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in Saturday's 12-1 win over the Twins. The 29-year-old homered for the second straight game and has now gone 7-for-8 against Twins pitchers the last two days, tallying five RBI and four runs scored in the process. Now the author of a .233-13-53-34-9 line through 74 games played, one wonders what that line could have looked like had he been able to stay healthy all season long. With his strong contact rate and low strikeout rate, he could still finish the season with a flurry of production.

Cincinnati Reds outfielder TJ Friedl went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs scored in Friday's 8-4 win over the Twins. It has been a season marred by injury for the 29-year-old but he's showing signs of life in September, hitting .262 with a pair of home runs, 11 RBI, six runs scored, and two stolen bases in 12 games. For the season, the left-handed hitter has a .221-12-51-32-9 line with a .302 wOBA and 87 wRC+. Friedl still boasts an 83.2% contact rate and a better-than-average strikeout rate of 16.0%, so there's hope he can finish strong and come into 2025 as a healthy multi-category contributor for fantasy.