GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Reds manager David Bell remains noncommittal about his likely regular-season lineup. After a season in which Cincinnati struggled to get on base, Bell and the club will have an added focus on the top portion of the order.

It remains a good bet, however, that first baseman Joey Votto will return to the No. 2 spot.

“His profile might fit as much as anyone who has ever played the game as far as his ability to get on base,” Bell said on Friday.

Votto, 36, is coming off back-to-back down years, but he has routinely called 2019 his most disappointing of all. Over 142 games, he slashed .261/.357/.411 with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs. His OPS dipped below .800 over a full season for the first time in his career.

After Votto batted third for the majority of his career, Bell moved him up to second last season for 121 of his starts. Votto also started 15 games from the leadoff spot.

Cincinnati hit a club-record 227 home runs last season but scored only five more runs than it did in ’18 and was 12th in the National League in runs.

“I really believed that if you look at any inability that we had last year to score runs at times, for me it was the amount of opportunities we had to score,” Bell said. “We need more opportunities to score.”

Nick Senzel and new outfielder Shogo Akiyama could be the leading choices for leadoff hitter this season, but Bell hasn’t focused on a name yet.

“I have a profile in mind, and we have guys that fit that for sure that are going to be regulars on our team,” Bell said. “The big thing is getting on base. You look at our team last year, and the middle of our order and the damage that the middle of the order did last year and the potential of what they can do even more so this year, it's going to be important to get on base in front of those guys. The top of the order, on-base is really the No. 1 thing I look at. If guys can run, that's great, too, it's important.”

Outfield time divided
With 10 outfielders on the 40-man roster, plus reliever/outfielder Michael Lorenzen, Bell has a lot of playing time to orchestrate during camp. For the early games, he has divided up the starts in a staggered fashion. Nick Castellanos, Phillip Ervin and Travis Jankowski will play Saturday. Akiyama, Aristides Aquino and Jesse Winker are scheduled to play Sunday.

It’s quite possible that Bell won’t have his three potential Opening Day outfielders together until the latter portion of camp. Between the large numbers on the roster and Senzel being limited from throwing early as he rehabs from September right shoulder surgery, it will be later in March before there’s a better idea of how it will look.

“There will be time. Part of the deal is that you have to make decisions,” Bell said. “We're in a good position where we feel like we're going to make the right decision and good decisions, mostly because we have good players. We're not going in without knowing anything about these guys. We know quite a bit about all of them. I would never see it as, 'We have the answer now.' That's not fair. We are here for five weeks. Adjustments can be made, players continue to work to improve and we need to see all that. That's part of Spring Training. It'll be used to evaluate that.”

Up next
As the visiting team, the Reds will open their Cactus League schedule vs. the Indians at 3:05 p.m. ET Saturday at Goodyear Ballpark. Votto, Castellanos and Mike Moustakas will be in the lineup, while right-handed pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez is scheduled to start.