TJ Friedl

TJ Friedl

29-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Cincinnati Reds
2024 Fantasy Outlook
While he may not look the part, Friedl became a fantasy darling last season with a .279/.352/.467 line, 18 homers and 27 steals in 556 plate appearances. He projects to be the Reds' everyday center fielder after a surprising 4.4 fWAR season, but Friedl will continue to have his doubters even with his high contact rate given the fact that his xSLG, average exit velocity and barrel rate all ranked in the bottom seven percent of the league, among other reasons. Friedl did a disproportionate amount of his damage at home, managing a .724 OPS on the road. He hit lefty pitching well, but he was rather fortunate in that regard (.425 BABIP) and some giveback against same-side pitching should be expected. Signed in 2016 as an undrafted free agent -- there were 40 rounds back in 2016 -- Friedl has made a career out of proving people wrong. If he continues to do so, he will reach folk hero status in Cincinnati and fantasy circles. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#198
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Reds in March of 2024.
Moves to leadoff Wednesday
OFCincinnati Reds
September 26, 2024
Friedl batted leadoff and went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Guardians.
ANALYSIS
Friedl broke up a no-hitter with a bunt to lead off the seventh inning and scored Cincinnati's first run. He was moved back to leadoff -- his first time since June 23 -- as Jonathan India was held out after clearing concussion protocol. He's struggled of late, going 4-for-24 (.167) over the last eight games. It's assumed Friedl will drop back to the middle of the order once India's ready to return.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
20
1
2
32
12
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
3
7
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+16%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+8%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+23%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+57%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .862 213 22 6 30 12 .298 .392 .470
Since 2022vs Right .744 942 119 33 116 31 .245 .317 .427
2024vs Left .651 81 7 2 13 4 .209 .338 .313
2024vs Right .701 260 28 11 42 5 .230 .301 .400
2023vs Left .962 110 12 3 12 7 .354 .421 .542
2023vs Right .785 446 61 15 54 20 .260 .336 .449
2022vs Left 1.121 22 3 1 5 1 .333 .455 .667
2022vs Right .716 236 30 7 20 6 .232 .301 .415
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+12%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+23%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+28%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+21%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .814 530 60 21 71 20 .267 .345 .469
Since 2022Away .725 625 81 18 75 23 .244 .319 .406
2024Home .615 161 11 4 23 3 .207 .294 .321
2024Away .757 180 24 9 32 6 .242 .324 .433
2023Home .926 265 33 13 41 14 .291 .365 .561
2023Away .724 291 40 5 25 13 .267 .340 .384
2022Home .837 104 16 4 7 3 .297 .375 .462
2022Away .691 154 17 4 18 4 .201 .273 .418
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Stat Review
How does TJ Friedl compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.50
 
BB Rate
7.6%
 
K Rate
15.2%
 
BABIP
.229
 
ISO
.155
 
AVG
.226
 
OBP
.310
 
SLG
.380
 
OPS
.690
 
wOBA
.308
 
Exit Velocity
86.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
25.1%
 
Barrels/PA
2.3%
 
Expected BA
.231
 
Expected SLG
.326
 
Sprint Speed
22.7 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
37.1%
 
Line Drive %
17.5%
 
Fly Ball %
45.4%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2017
Friedl has the chance to be one of those overlooked players who falls into more playing time than their skillset otherwise deserves because he is on a bad ball club bereft of talent to overtake him at the position. Friedl is a high contact hitter with speed and little power who could benefit from reduced shifting and use his willingness to accept walks and convert them into steals on the bases under the new rules. Friedl's home to first time, a good indicator of potential steals, is near the 90th percentile league-wide, so he has the skills to at least duplicate the 17 steals he had in 2022 between Triple-A and the majors in 21 attempts. He is also projected to hit leadoff as things currently stand on the roster making him an excellent candidate to potentially triple his MLB steals total from 2022 on volume alone if he can improve his ability to get on base. Simply put, he is an intriguing late game speed dart throw in all league formats.
Friedl made his big-league debut last year, hitting .290 with one home run and more walks (four) than strikeouts (two) in 36 PA. He will once again be in line for some work in the majors, particularly if the Reds don't add to the roster after the lockout. Known as a light-hitting outfielder with good contact skill and plus speed, Friedl is capable of playing center field or left field, and he fits best as a fourth or fifth outfielder. His .264/.357/.422 slash line and 111 wRC+ at Triple-A was not overly impressive for a player who is set to turn 27 in August. However, he should at least make enough contact to hold is own at the bottom third of the lineup against right-handed pitching. He makes for a fine depth piece in NL-only and deep draft-and-hold formats, given his speed and the fact the Reds will likely have playing time available.
Friedl's story is pretty incredible. A perfect storm of draft status confusion, limitations imposed by draft allotment rules and plain oversight (among other factors), led to Friedl going undrafted in 2016. The Reds did their homework and ended up signing Friedl in August, giving him the largest signing bonus ever for an undrafted player. He began to reward the organization immediately, posting a .423 OBP and 16 extra-base hits from the left side of the plate in a 29-game stint with rookie-level Billings. The 21-year-old also stole seven bases, flashing the plus-plus speed that should keep him in center field. That speed along with advanced plate skills and surprising power for a 5-foot-10, 170 pound frame, is enough to put Friedl among the top 10 in the Reds' system, but those in keeper leagues may want to wait and see how Friedl fares with a full-season affiliate before investing.
More Fantasy News
Not in Thursday's lineup
OFCincinnati Reds
September 19, 2024
Friedl is absent from the lineup for Thursday's game against Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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Four hits, homer in win
OFCincinnati Reds
September 14, 2024
Friedl went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer and an additional run scored in Saturday's 11-1 win over the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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Contributes to win
OFCincinnati Reds
September 14, 2024
Friedl went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and an additional run scored in Friday's 8-4 win over the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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Drives in two in win
OFCincinnati Reds
September 10, 2024
Friedl went 1-for-4 with two RBI, a stolen base and one run scored in Tuesday's 3-0 win over the Cardinals.
ANALYSIS
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Back in lineup Monday
OFCincinnati Reds
September 9, 2024
Friedl will start in center field and bat cleanup in Monday's game against Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Superficial pop
OFCincinnati Reds
August 6, 2023
Friedl's .446 slugging percentage is vastly outperforming his .313 xSLG.
ANALYSIS
Friedl's 10 home runs is a modest total that seems on par given that he's pulled every homer to his strong side of the field. However, the 27-year-old's .240/.283/.313 expected slash line pales significantly in comparison to his actual .282/.349/.446 production through 364 plate appearances. He's worth monitoring as a regression candidate.
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