Edwin Arroyo’s grip on the second-base job picture grows louder in Cincinnati

The debate over who should be the Cincinnati Reds’ everyday second baseman is not just a roster question anymore. It has turned into a fan-first referendum, with widespread support for Edwin Arroyo as the player who should get the role for the rest of the season, according to a recent Reds fan discussion reported by Red Reporter.

For Reds supporters, Arroyo is getting credit for the kind of arrival they remember from Cincinnati’s most recent 2B blueprint. Red Reporter framed the moment as a throwback to the impact of Matt McLain’s half-season in 2023, when McLain posted a 127 OPS+ while providing power and speed and playing a premium defensive position. That “breakout” is part of why the second-base job carries so much emotional weight in Cincinnati, where fans have long expected the club to develop internal answers.

The complication is that the follow-through has not matched the early promise. Red Reporter said the 2023 season ended early due to injury, that 2024 was lost because of injuries, and that in the time since McLain returned from major shoulder surgery, his OPS+ has fallen to 75 across nearly 900 plate appearances. The same report also described oblique issues as part of the backstory and noted that McLain’s swing has been aggressive enough that it has played a role in health concerns.

Manager Terry Francona’s public roster logic, as described through the reporting, also matters here. Red Reporter said Francona has continued to provide McLain repeated chances to cement the everyday second-base role and that the intention has been to use that role in a lineup-building context, including batting-order considerations. But the shift in attention toward Arroyo suggests that, at least from the fan perspective, the patience window may be closing.

Arroyo’s case is rooted in the idea that the second base job can stabilize the lineup and the run-production plan. Red Reporter described Arroyo as gradually settling into second base and suggested his path could be accelerated if the Reds decide the day-to-day second-base responsibilities should be less of a “shared opportunity” and more of a consistent assignment. That is not simply a depth-chart change, it is about continuity in a position that affects both defensive rhythm and middle-order timing.

There is also a positioning puzzle at the center of the argument: the same report said the Reds began trying to “shoehorn” McLain into a center-field role for the first real time since his days at UCLA. If that attempt sticks, it would further reduce how often McLain can be treated as the automatic second baseman, leaving more repetitions for Arroyo to prove he can be the long-term solution.

What to watch next is how quickly the Reds turn fan certainty into on-field certainty. If Arroyo continues to receive the bulk of second-base reps, the internal message will be clear: the organization wants to see whether he can separate himself as the default middle-infield piece. If, instead, the Reds keep their approach more fluid, this will remain a season-long labor of sorting out roles rather than a clean handoff. Either way, Cincinnati is indicating it is ready to move from historical hope to present-tense production.