Inside the conversations that turned around Will Benson's season with the Reds

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Will Benson boarded the plane from Chicago to Boston with a .074 batting average in 2023. At the time, Benson was the new guy who wasn’t hitting. He was only in the big leagues because former Reds outfielder Wil Myers was on the injured list with a kidney stone, and the Reds called up Benson to provide some outfield depth before the expected demotion back to Triple-A.

On that plane ride on May 28, Reds first baseman Joey Votto started a conversation with Benson. They talked about hitting. Votto explained the importance of Benson making the path of his swing more consistent. Votto said that the first step toward Benson developing a repeatable swing was his pre-game…