The Reds signed Ross Ohlendorf, a right-handed pitcher, to a 1-year major league contract. Ohlendorf is 33 and pitched in the bullpen for the Texas Rangers last season. He does have experience as a big league starter, including seven games for the Washington Nationals in 2013. So he could fill a long-relief role in the Reds bullpen or a swing role at the start of the season.
Ohlendorf had made eight appearances in trying out for the Kansas City Royals this spring. In nine innings, he had struck out 10 batters, walked three and allowed nine hits. The Royals released Ohlendorf on Wednesday. As you might expect, competition for their one open bullpen slot is fierce.
Chris Welsh was saying on the TV broadcast yesterday that it was obvious to him the Reds weren’t finished adding veteran players to fill out the pitching staff.
Ohlendorf is a graduate of Princeton University who majored in Operations Research and Financial Engineering. He scored 1520 out of 1600 on his SAT (so yeah, he’s smarter than all of us) and wrote a 140-page senior thesis on the value of major league draft picks. So he can help out in the front office when the Reds get their pitching staff healthy.