Reds rallying around Fraley amid 'most challenging season of my life'

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Jake Fraley has yet to play a regular season game but the Reds outfielder already knows this much.

“I’m not going to shy away. This is the most challenging season of my life," Fraley said. "It already started when we got here and it’s only going to escalate once we get to Opening Day and when the actual season starts."

Fraley isn't dealing with an injury, worrying about playing time or trying to change his left-handed swing. The 28-year-old and his wife, Angelica, learned in the fall that their five-year-old daughter, Avery, was diagnosed with leukemia.

Fortunately, there is optimism for Avery, who immediately underwent treatment and chemotherapy. In January, new tests detected no more cancer in her bone marrow.

“She’s good. Everything is good. She’s going through treatment," Fraley said.

That doesn't mean Avery, nor the Fraley family, is through the woods.

“Leukemia has such a high recurrence because it’s your bone marrow and you’re constantly reproducing it," Fraley said. "Even though she got what they call MRD-negative, which means she has no evidence of any disease anymore, you still have to finish with the protocol.”

That protocol requires Avery to get at least another two months of frontline chemotherapy. She will eventually take oral chemo twice a day for five days per week, once doctors can move her into a maintenance phase. There will be checkups at least once a month.

Avery undergoes checkups and treatments at children's hospitals in Cincinnati, Phoenix and the family's hometown of Miami. The big signposts to be truly cancer free are two years and five years, when she will be 10.

“I could only feel for him and empathize with him," Reds outfielder TJ Friedl said. "I know when he first told all of us, all we could do was just rally around him and give him all the support we could. It was in the offseason so we couldn’t be there with him. All we could do is try to rally around him, have his family’s back and give them support from afar.

"We’ve been helping them, being there for him and we’re going to continue to be there for their family now that we’re all here together.”

Fraley, who also has a son, Jayce, has leaned hard into his Christian faith. It is what has kept him upbeat and accepting of what has happened to his young daughter.

"He [God] provides the way so we have the ability to find joy, peace and happiness no matter what the circumstances are that we are going through," Fraley said. “Everybody is going through extreme darkness. Mine is my daughter going through cancer and battling through it."

Fraley and his family refuse to feel like victims.

“It’s easy to go through life when things are great for you, and say, ‘It’s the Lord and he’s blessing me,’ and this and that," Fraley said. "But what about when things suck? Then people are looking at you to see where your actions are and see [if] you’re putting your money where your mouth is. When you can walk through it in that fashion, it brings a lot of spotlight and understanding to that truth.”

Manager David Bell has gotten to know the Fraley family over the past two years since Jake arrived from the Mariners in a March 2022 trade.

Bell has watched Fraley play through injuries, slumps and battle opposing pitchers before having success. He finds himself inspired by how he's handled this situation most of all.

“It just says so much about Jake and the way he’s created this incredible process for himself, a routine where he’s able to first and foremost be a husband and Dad but still put everything he has into being a baseball player," Bell said. "It’s incredible to see how he’s set up his life with a support system and a routine for all the things that are important to him.

"We know it’s tough. But they are handling it as well as you can possibly imagine. I am sure Avery benefits greatly from that, seeing how close they are, how strong they are and staying all together. I would imagine that love is healing.”

Not only has Fraley felt support from his faith, but also the fans who have responded.

“It was phenomenal," he said. "It wasn’t any surprise to me just like it wasn’t a surprise how the guys in this clubhouse and all the people in the front office gave their unwavering support. It’s been such a blessing to feel it and experience it.”

As for playing through this "most challenging season of his life," Fraley basically says, bring it.

"I get excited about challenges," he said. "Instead of saying this will be the hardest season of my life, you just rephrase that statement that it’s going to be the most challenging season of my life. My mind can get behind that because I get excited about challenges. I can find growth in it.”