Sunday was not a day for the statline for most of the pitchers on the Cincinnati Reds. Eight pitchers took the mound and six of them gave up at least a run. Only Cionel Pérez and Shane Carle made it through an inning unscathed. But stats aren’t everything in spring training. In fact, they aren’t all that meaningful. There were some meaningful things to take away from the game, though. One of them was that Graham Ashcraft entered the game for the Reds and threw a bunch of fastballs in the 98-100 MPH range.
When the Reds selected Graham Ashcraft in the 6th round of the 2019 draft coming out of college, he did not have a curveball. He picked one up during the 2020 year, and on Sunday he brought it out in the game against the Giants. One of them hung up a little bit and Joey Bart – the #2 overall pick in the 2018 draft – hit it a country mile. But Ashcraft busted out another one against Jason Krizan to end the inning, locking up the Giants lefty.
Curveball from Graham Ashcraft: pic.twitter.com/O93yskKSC1
— OnBaseMachine (@RedsFan_Brandon) March 7, 2021
Jose Garcia flashes the leather, the arm
After last season any Cincinnati Reds fan should probably know that Jose Garcia can put on a show at shortstop. On Sunday he slid over to second base, and well, he looked every bit like a shortstop playing second base as he made a diving stop on the other side of the bag and made a throw from his knees that only an elite-level arm could do.
NO WAY, JOSE!!! #RedsST ?? pic.twitter.com/naOqdgI0p9
— FOX Sports Cincinnati (@FOXSportsCincy) March 7, 2021
“B-Game” on Monday
While the big league team will be playing against the Rockies in the afternoon, there is also a B-game on the backfields. Noé Ramirez will make the start in that game and will be followed by Brandon Finnegan and Vladimir Gutierrez.