Defense has never really been the calling card for the Cincinnati Reds, at least not of late.
This is the same franchise with the same owner and a lot of the same members of the front office who doled out big money deals to bring in Nick Castellanos for a corner outfield spot and Mike Moustakas, whom they tried moving up the defensive ladder despite him being old and slow and woefully outmatched.
Dating back to the start of the 2020 season, the Reds total team DEF via FanGraphs checks in at -175.4,
a mark that’s only worst-ed by five other clubs across Major League Baseball. That list includes perennial losers like the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals, and Oakland/Sacramento/Vegas A’s, too.
The Reds hadn’t had a Gold Glove winner since Tucker Barnhart took one home back in 2020, and it sure felt like they hadn’t had a player in front of the plate take one home since the signing of the Magna Carta. In reality, it had been since Brandon Phillips won one for his work at 2B back in 2013 – and Cincinnati hadn’t had a 3B win one since Scott Rolen in 2010.
That changed on Sunday evening, mercifully. Trade deadline acquisition Ke’Bryan Hayes won the National League Gold Glove Award for 3B, and did so incredibly deserving fashion. He had previously been named a finalist at his position (as had Spencer Steer at 1B, though Steer did not win at his position), and it was pretty obvious at that time that he was the frontrunner to win.
Defense is the obvious calling card for Hayes, who owns just a 63 wRC+ in 966 PA dating back to the start of the 2024 season. That’s good for the 5th worst among the 316 MLB players who’ve logged at least 500 PA in that time, which is a painful thing to write. That said, his 25.7 DEF in that same span ranks 10th overall, and that’s behind the outsized weight of four catchers alongwith superstars Bobby Witt, Jr. and Francisco Lindor, among several others.
That’s what the Reds paid for, both in prospects and taking on the remaining millions on his long-term contract, and that’s precisely what they received. Hayes is an absolutely elite defender, and he’s plenty good enough at that to carry him in your everyday roster provided that you surround him with enough offense elsewhere that it’s not a problem. It’s that latter part that the Reds struggled to do in 2025, and it damn well should be the primary goal of the front office heading in to 2026.
Congrats to Ke’Bryan!
