The Cincinnati Reds' starting rotation is their strength. Hunter Greene is an ace while Nick Lodolo also features potential. One starter who is sometimes overlooked is Brady Singer.

Although he was durable in 2025, Singer's first season with the Reds was far from ideal. He pitched to a mediocre 4.03 ERA across 32 starts, striking out 163 hitters during that span. Singer, who spent the first five years of his big league career in Kansas City with the Royals before joining the Reds last season, may be on track for the biggest campaign of his career in 2026, however.

Singer's 2026 represents a contract season. At 29 years old, he will be pitching to earn a long-term deal in the offseason (barring a contract extension with the Reds, which seems unlikely). The contract season may provide extra motivation but it does not guarantee that the former highly regarded prospect will have a true breakout performance.

With that being said, there is reason to believe in the right-handed hurler.

Singer's 22.8 strikeout percentage in 2025 was his highest mark since the 2022 campaign. His 40.8 hard-hit against percentage was his best mark since 2021. Singer had some issues with command which led to too many walks, but some of the underlying statistics still leave reason for hope.

Singer's breaking run value ranked in the 87th percentile in 2025. His fastball, which was ranked in the 16th percentile, needs to be better from a command standpoint. Singer's breaking pitches will be what leads to success if he bounces back in 2026, though.

Singer only threw his four-seam fastball 10.5 percent of the time last year. He relied on his sinker 40.6 percent of the time and slider 28.4 percent of the time. Meanwhile, Singer also throws a sweeper and a cutter.

For Singer, the goal will be to limit hard contact and induce a lot of ground balls. The double play ball will be his best friend. Singer's 39 percent ground ball rate represented a career-low by a significant margin in 2025. For his career, the pitcher has averaged a 47.2 percent ground ball rate. 

Perhaps 2025 was an outlier in that department. For a pitcher who throws a sinker most of the time, the ground ball will be of the utmost importance moving forward.

As long as Singer throws more strikes and utilizes his sinker to minimize line drives and long fly balls, the right-handed hurler should be able to get back on track. And since it is a contract season, motivation will certainly not be a problem.