When the Cincinnati Reds signed Taylor Trammell last year out of high school the early reports were that he was a bit raw as a baseball player. Trammell was oozing athleticism, but wasn’t as skilled as other high schoolers taken in that range. Well, whoever wrote up those reports…. oops. The then 18-year-old went to the Pioneer League to join the Billings Mustangs. All he did there was hit .303/.374/.421 with 24 stolen bases.
This week has been my first chance to see Taylor Trammell play in person. I had seen some video from high school and I was able to watch some of the games with the Mustangs last year on MiLB.tv. Nothing beats seeing players in person though.
I wrote about how Trammell looked faster than I was expecting, even though I expected him to be one of the fastest players in camp. On Thursday I wanted to really focus in on him during batting practice. I wasn’t disappointed. He was showing off good raw power and cleared the net with a long home run to right field in one of the rounds. You can watch the video from the session (or, well, part of it) below.
The day wasn’t over for Taylor Trammell. He got to suit up and travel with the big league club on Thursday. Bryan Price put him in the game in the 7th inning and he made it count.
At the plate he singled to left field in his only at-bat of the game, driving in two runs. It was a sure-fire double that landed on the warning track, but with the bases loaded, on a fly ball, the runner that was on first held up and was only able to make it to second. He wasn’t done, though. In the bottom of the inning he made a diving catch in center to end the inning.
Other Impressions from minor league camp
Mariel Bautista, who I wrote about the other day, must have also impressed someone else. He got into the Triple-A game on Thursday. He only had one plate appearance in the game. The 19-year-old drew a walk on seven pitches. He swung over an offspeed pitch for strike two, putting him being in the count. The pitcher came back with the same pitch and he held back, then took two more pitches for balls three and four. Seeing the in bat adjustment was nice for a player of his age against that level of competition.
Dilson Herrera played in the game, but was the designated hitter and not playing in the field. The guy can absolutely rake. I only saw two of his at-bats on the day as I was running back-and-forth between the two games that were going on. The first one that I saw, Herrera clobbered a pitch to the left-center field wall for a double. In the second at-bat he singled on a line drive into right-center.
Brandon Finnegan started the Triple-A game for the Reds. Tucker Barnhart worked behind the plate until Finnegan was finished for the day. As I noted above, I was back-and-forth between the two fields, so I don’t know what the stat lines were for either of the two players. Finnegan did pitch for a while, so I’d imagine that he had some success simply based on the number of innings he was out there. I did get a few good pictures of each guy though. So, small victory on my part.
Can Barrett Astin make the bullpen?
After Bronson Arroyo pitched on Thursday for the Reds, Barrett Astin took over. He tossed a shutout inning, issuing his first walk of the spring. The right hander has now allowed just one earned run in 8.2 innings. To go along with his one walk he has 12 strikeouts.
Astin is on the 40-man roster, so he wouldn’t require a move to add to the team. He’s also had plenty of success this spring. In 2016 he was dominant for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, splitting time between the bullpen and rotation. It would seem that five spots in the bullpen are locked up. How many spots are available isn’t quite known as no one seems to know how many bench and bullpen players the team will go with. Astin has to be in the mix, though. His performance both this spring and last year have warranted a strong consideration for a spot on the team.