I agree with John Fay: for the Reds to be good this year, Bronson Arroyo could be key:
Arroyo came into camp this year at 198 pounds. He’s still very lean at 6 feet 5, but a little weight can make a big difference. He was sick early in spring training, but it didn’t have a big effect on him.
He went 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA. He struck out 12, walked two and allowed 12 hits in 19 innings.
“I feel now like I felt going into the end of last season,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo’s rough stretch last season coincided with a drop in the velocity on his fastball. His strength is his off-speed stuff, but that slow stuff works better when the fastball is at 90 to 91 mph. He hopes to keep it there this season.
“I worked a little harder this offseason on my shoulder,” he said. “I wanted to see if I could get my fastball a little more consistently stiffer.”
Interesting.
Tonight would be a good time for him to start on his way to an excellent season. How about 7 or 8 quality innings against the D’backs tonight?