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Dateline: Goodyear, Arizona
This time a year ago, Andrew Abbott was antsy about getting to throw in the spring. He was still nursing a strained left shoulder.
The injury ended his season on August 20, 2024. The injury lingered and he was held out of competition in the Cactus League with the rotator cup in his left shoulder strained. The 26-year old made two starts at Louisville before appearing in his first regular season game on April 12, a winning five inning effort against Pittsburgh.
Abbott was not contrary or boisterous about sitting out the start of the season, but clearly didn't like it.
"We all did the right thing. We listened to the medical people," Francona said. "We convinced him because he was chomping at the bit. As good players and good pitchers do."
Abbott went on to be an All-Star with a 10-7 record in 29 starts with a career-low 2.87 ERA in a career-high 166 1/3 innings. It was his second consecutive 10-win season.
Abbott received from the local chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America the 2025 Ernie Lombardi Award as the Reds' Most Valuable Player and the Johnny Vander Meer Awardas the Reds' Most Outstanding Pitcher. He became the sixth Reds pitcher since the Vander Meer Award was established in 1969 to receive both awards in the same season and the seventh Reds pitcher (eighth occurrence) to be named team MVP.
To illustrate how the handling of Abbott's injury paid off, He pitched to a 0.55 ERA (32.2ip, 3r/2er) across 6 starts in May, It was the third-lowest mark by a Reds pitcher in a calendar month (min. 30ip) since earned runs became an official stat in the NationalLeague in 1912, behind only John Franco (0.30, August 1985) and Dolf Luque (0.50, June 1923).
Abbott will get his first start of spring training against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday (February 24, 2026), after a normal off season of preparation.
The Reds will send this lineup against Kansas City.
TJ Friedl DH
Matt McLain 2B
Elly De La Cruz SS
Eugenio Suarez 3B
Spencer Steer 1B
Will Benson LF
Tyler Stephenson C
Noelvi Marte RF
Dane Myers CF
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