Back in the go-go dinger days of 2019, Eugenio Suárez socked nearly as many home runs (49) as he blew gum bubbles, a number he matched in a 2025 season split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners.
So, if you ponder the question of who leads the 2026 Reds in dingers, it’s easy to simply point at Geno.
Is it really that simple, though?
Geno’s now 34 years old, and he’ll hit 35 in July of this year. On top of that, sandwiched in between his seasons with 49 bombs are single-season totals
of 31, 31, 22, and 30, so it’s not as if he’s reached those lofty numbers each and every season.
Yes, he’s now calling Great American Ball Park home after spending far too much time in Seattle, where right-handed power hitting goes to die. Yes, he’s on a one-year ‘prove it’ contract for 2026 after nobody presumably offered him a long-term deal of enough value for him and his agent, and that may prompt him to go nuts again offensively in a contract year.
But is it really too outlandish to suggest that maybe, just maybe, someone else on this team finishes 2026 with more homers than Suárez? Someone like, say, Elly De La Cruz?
If Geno ‘slips’ back to only hitting ~30 homers in 2026, is it out of the question that a healthily-shouldered Spencer Steer could flirt with 30 after topping 20 in each of the last trio of seasons?
JJ Bleday once swatted 20 homers for the Oakland A’s! Noelvi Marte’s power has long been hyped as potentially plus…could 2026 be the year he finally puts it all together?
Lest we forget Sal Stewart, who led the 2025 Reds in homers after his call-up in September. He’s one of the most advanced hitters the Reds have seen as a rookie in a generation, and scouts have long said his raw power was ahead of his in-game power…at least until it showed up in-game at the end of last season. Might he step right in to the Cincinnati lineup on Opening Day and become the thumper this lineup has missed for years?
Who do you think leads this club in dingers in ‘26?
