The Cincinnati Reds had their first off day on Monday since games began. They get back in action Tuesday afternoon at 3:05pm with Sal Romano making the start against Kansas City. However, that won’t be the first action of the day. On the backfields many of the Reds will take on some minor leaguers in a “B game” that will only last six innings. With as many arms that are in camp the team needs to find innings for everyone and this will be one way to make that happen. If you’re in Arizona, that could be a good chance to get to see some of these guys really up close.
Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer has up a nice article on Rookie Davis from last night. There’s a lot in there, but the key takeaway for me was the development of his slider.
He debuted the pitch on March 1 against the Milwaukee Brewers and was happy with how it looked. It sat 86-88 mph and had good depth. He got a looking strikeout and a pop-out on it.
It’s been an interesting spring training so far for Rookie Davis. He came out in the first game throwing harder than he threw almost all of last year. Now he’s throwing a new pitch. After a down 2016, the 2017 campaign could be a comeback type of year for the right hander. It will be real interesting to see how things develop, particularly early on for Davis.
If you saw the draft check in article yesterday, you probably noticed that Hunter Greene wasn’t listed this week. I searched and searched for information on his start last week and couldn’t find much of anything. That’s surprising, even for a high schooler, given that he’s the #1 prospect in the country. I was finally able to track down how he performed on Monday afternoon, so I will share that here. The right hander was charged with five unearned runs in 5.0 innings, allowed eight hits and one walk. He struck out 10 of the 24 batters he faced in the game.
Sort of off-topic, but I LOVE the World Baseball Classic. The best players in the world aren’t all there, understandably – especially from a pitchers perspective. But the thing that makes it so great is the atmosphere. The crowds, especially abroad, are incredible. It just brings a different feeling to the game. I’d love to see that more often here during the regular season.