After playing with Triple-A Louisville on a rehab assignment in the afternoon, Jake Fraley made his way back to Great American Ball Park to rejoin his teammates after their game.
Fraley looked and sounded upbeat that night on July 10 − a welcome improvement from the somber tone he struck the night he went on the 10-day injured list as he considered the potentially serious ramifications of a right shoulder sprain.
“He seemed really upbeat,” Reds manager Terry Francona said Friday, July 11.
As expected, Fraley was activated from the IL on Saturday, July 12 with Christian Encarnacion-Strand being optioned to Louisville in a corresponding roster move.
“I’m excited to be back with the team,” Fraley said. “It’s been a tough year. So far, it hasn’t been terrible but I haven’t played up to my full potential and then obviously having to deal with this shoulder all over again for – it feels like the third time now…”
For Fraley, who previously described his injury as a partially torn labrum, it marks the return of a player who doesn’t want to miss what the second half of the season could hold for the Reds. He’ll continue to try to improve his ailment during the second half of the season.
Instead of undergoing surgery, Fraley had a cortisone shot, will focus on rehab and strength, and attempt to finish 2025 with his teammates.
“I’ve given everything to this organization the last four years,” Fraley said. “Playing through a broken foot, through this shoulder, obviously last year playing through everything with my daughter. You know, I’ve given a lot to this organization and it’s just, I don’t want to be sitting on the sideline unless I absolutely have no choice. Watching this team do it’s thing, because it is an intriguing, exciting (team) and I think, along with everybody else in this room, is a playoff team.
“Whatever that role ends up being, I want to be a part of it.”
Encarnacion-Strand returned from an IL stint June 6 and, after enjoying a successful four-game stint (8-for-17), labored for production and saw playing time at first and third base limited.
“We spent a lot of time with him,” Francona said on Saturday. “We didn’t want to just say, ‘Hey, you’re going down. Good luck.’ (Hitting coach Chris Valaika) came in and we talked about his hitting and are just trying to swing at strikes. We’re not trying to turn him into an on-base machine. But he’s got kind of freakish power if he can swing at balls in (the strike zone) and not chase.“He’s not a bench player. You’re not going to pinch-run him. You’re not going to put him in for defense. So, in fairness to him, we’ll let him go play. I think he understood that. We want him to play third and first, but a majority at third because that’s probably where he hasn’t played. We think it can help his athleticism, too. He can always go over to first.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘I want to be part of it.’ Jake Fraley talks Reds IL return
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
