Here's how India wants to improve in '23

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI -- Jonathan India’s second Major League season featured a handful of unwanted issues. Leg injuries kept the Reds' second baseman out much of the first half and he often wasn’t himself at the plate. Meanwhile, his team started a rebuild during Spring Training that left the 2021 National League Rookie of the Year suddenly thrust into senior clubhouse leadership.

India admitted he felt the pressure of taking charge and performing after hitters like Nick Castellanos, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez departed.

"It was my first time experiencing something like that,” India said last month at season’s end. “As a second-year guy, people were looking at me like a vet now. Like, 'Oh my God, it's my second year. I'm still working on things.'

"I realized ... guys on this field this year haven't had a month of service. It was tough. You look at our record and it's like, 'Oh, they lost 100.' We had a new team almost every week. All we can do is come back stronger next year.”

Manager David Bell didn’t view it as a lost year for India.

“This year may be more important to go through than last year in some ways. Both very valuable,” Bell said. “Maybe it’s good he went through some of these things now that it’s over. He’s very driven. He’s very competitive. He wants to be a part of a winning team. He’s going to respond the right way to this. That gives me a lot of confidence it was a good experience for him to have this season where it didn’t go perfect.”

A right hamstring injury in April cost India 48 games over two stints on the injured list. In August at the Field of Dreams Game in Iowa, he was hit by a pitch on the left shin, and the deep bone bruise affected him the rest of the season.

“It’s been tough. A lot of things that hindered my performance, but I’m not going to make excuses,” India said. “All I can do is get my mind right in the offseason, come back strong and healthy and playing 162 games. That’s my goal.”

India will be part of the lineup’s core again next season. He will also be looking to improve defensively, amid new rule changes that outlaw the shift. According to Statcast, he ranked near the bottom of the league among all second basemen in Outs Above Average (-9) and runs prevented (-7).

India wasn’t sure how the ban on shifting would affect his game.

“It’s a good question. It’s definitely going to be harder to play, but I’m always up for a challenge,” he said. “And there’s also more hits for me as a hitter. I’ll look at it that way.”

India, who spent much of October visiting Greece with his girlfriend, planned to be fully recharged by spring and ready to attack 2023.

“I’m capable of doing a lot in this game,” India said. “I’m very confident. It’s going to be a hell of a year next year, I know it.”