The Cincinnati Reds take on the Los Angeles Angels this afternoon. The game will be available on MLB Network and MLB.tv, so we should be able to watch. Here’s the starting lineup:
- Jose Peraza – CF
- Eugenio Suarez – 3B
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Brandon Phillips – 2B
- Jay Bruce – RF
- Adam Duvall – DH
- Ivan De Jesus – SS
- Yorman Rodriguez – LF
- Tucker Barnhart – C
- Raisel Iglesias – P
Following Iglesias on the mound will be Jumbo Diaz, Tim Melville, Dayan Diaz, J.C. Ramirez and Stephen Johnson.
Here are the minor leaguers that will also be on the roster for the game today: Tim Adleman, Kyle McMyne, Layne Somsen, Chris O’Grady, Garrett Boulware, Joe Hudson, Chadwick Tromp, Jermaine Curtis, Seth Mejias-Brean, Zach Vincej, Beamer Weems, Jake Cave, Jeff Gelalich, Tyler Holt, Brian O’Grady and Scott Schebler.
What to watch for
Usually I focus this on minor leaguers, but the biggest thing to watch for today is Raisel Iglesias. With the news that Michael Lorenzen felt something in his elbow again yesterday, the last thing they need is a fourth pitcher not being ready to start the season. Iglesias is making his spring debut and will probably threw two innings today.
Jose Peraza is getting his first start in center field. It’s not a position that he’s got much time playing with just 161.2 innings played in his entire career at the position. He’s got plenty of speed to play out there, but pay attention to how well his routes are run and if we can see, how quickly he can make the read on the baseball.
Tim Melville may have a very important day today. I will be writing more about it for this afternoon, but with Lorenzen now likely missing too much time to be ready to open the season even if he’s eventually going to be healthy, a rotation spot has opened up it would seem. If the Reds don’t want to start the clock on Stephenson or Reed, and they shouldn’t want to do that, Melville seems like the most likely candidate to step in.
It’s the middle of March and Yorman Rodriguez hasn’t exactly hit much. He’s had a few lineouts that maybe could have gone for hits if he were a little more lucky, but he’s also had an infield hit and a bloop single. Is today the day that his bat gets going?