It has been a busy day here at Redleg Nation – this is going to be the fourth article of the day. The big news came this afternoon when the Cincinnati Reds added Derek Dietrich to the 60-man player pool roster (he’s going to be on the Prasco Park tour). Everyone’s favorite bee keeper noted that he had COVID-19 and that was why he had not yet been added to the player pool, but he’s been cleared as of today and was heading to Prasco Park this afternoon after his zoom press conference with the local media.
The Reds are going to be playing a 5-inning scrimmage this evening at 5:50pm ET at Great American Ballpark. There are five pitchers scheduled to throw today:
- Luis Castillo
- Sal Romano
- Joel Kuhnel
- Jose De Leon
- Cody Reed
It’s an assumption at this point, but probably a good one, that Luis Castillo will pitch five innings for one side, while the other four pitchers will combine for five innings on the other team. Much like we noted yesterday – this should be the second to last start for Castillo before the regular season begins. He is scheduled to pitch next Saturday, in game two of the regular season, against the Detroit Tigers.
Watching the game
You can watch the game live below, or click this link to watch it at Reds.com.
Cincinnati Reds Lineups
We’ll have them posted when they become available. With how things are going right now, the media is not allowed into the stadium until about 15 minutes before the scrimmages are set to begin – so we’ve been getting them about 5 minutes prior to the first pitch.
Away |
Home |
| Shogo Akiyama – CF | Jesse Winker – LF |
| Tucker Barnhart – C | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Phillip Ervin – LF | Eugenio Suarez – 3B |
| Matt Davidson – 3B | Christian Colon – 2B |
| Alex Blandino – 1B | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Kyle Farmer – SS | Freddy Galvis – SS |
| Mark Payton – RF | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Jonathan India – 2B | Curt Casali – C |
| Jose De Leon – P | Luis Castillo – P |
Pre-game Reds news and notes
In case you missed it earlier, we discussed what the Reds – or any team really – could try to do in order to work with a situation in which that days starting pitcher was not available due to a delay in getting back their COVID-19 test results. Trevor Bauer was unable to make it to the ballpark on Monday because of such an issue.
MLB to pump in generic crowd noise this season
Major League Baseball is pumping in crowd noise this season at all ballparks. And it’s the same crowd noise everywhere – so there won’t be team specific crowd reactions. That is going to be happening in-stadium, not just for TV/radio – so the players/managers/coaches will all be hearing it during the game.
link? or embeded video
The Brewers are streaming scrimmages with full announcer crew play by play and commentary. Too bad the Reds aren’t doing that.
That would be loads of fun, but probably get us in lots of trouble with the Reds and MLB.TV!
I mean, I know HOW to do it, but as Tom said – there’s a big problem with the whole copyright side of things on that one.
There’s one for Payton!
I like him too. I just don’t want to see Aquino be the odd man out. I think he showed enough last year to really get a good chance at it. Tough decision for front office!
Home run by payton or what? I missed it.
Yes HR by Payton
Shogo has a nice quick swing doesn’t he? Looks good so far
Can someone help me out? I am lost here. I thought Ervin popped up with Shogo on 2nd base? Did that one fall in for a hit?
Yes. It dropped right behind first base.
Gotcha, thanks! With no sound, you can’t take for granted what you think is going to happen and switch tabs in the middle of a play!
I don’t see Moustakas in the lineup or on the field. Colon is playing 2B for the home team. Anyone know what the deal is?
It would seem that, perhaps, he’s not in the game. Jonathan India was just shown at second base on the squad that was supposed to have Colon at 2B, but Colon appears to be at 2B for the other team now. I’ll go back up and edit the lineup.
Carpenter is a Boddy reclamation project. He had a couple of good years 5-6 years ago but disappeared until Boddy worked with him prior to the 2019 season. Had a 1.63 ERA in AAA last year for the Rangers. Considering the offense in the PCL last year that is pretty good.
How can you not like Alex Blandino. Both at-bats I have seen today were really nice. If this kid can just hit for a little power he is a keeper imo.
You guys think Aquino makes the thirty man?
No
Both?
I mean, maybe he’s truly one of the best 30 – but he’s what, the best 5th or 6th outfielder who can only play outfield?
Would love to see him get a shot, but they just have too many guys out there that we KNOW can hit. The jury is still out on him
In all reality if hes not going to be on the thirty man the reds should trade him and get something for him instead of having him ride the bench. I truly believe he gets the starting job on at least ten to 15 teams across the league. I mean you’re telling me hes not a starting outfielder on the giants or the orioles or the pirates or a plethora of other teams? The reds realistically could get a decent prospect for him and I don’t see why they aren’t doing it if hes not going to make the thirty man. There are teams that would trade for him even if hes their fourth outfielder. Trade him or play him!
I also beleive that hes better than philip ervin. jankowski and fairchild. And youre going to tell me mark payton is better than him? Anybody that says that is nuts.
My thoughts with Aquino is pretty simple. He has huge upside but also a lot of question marks, and this goes beyond recency, as he’s had questions about his potential throughout the minors (even being removed from 40-man before 2019 season). At this point he’s either 5th or 6th depending on how you feel about Ervin. Personally I have Ervin ahead of Aquino due to consistency against LHP and ability to play all three OF spots.
With that in mind, you either keep Aquino on the roster, relegating him to a part time role (at best) while he earns a full season of service time, decreasing the amount of team control that we may wish we had if he does approach his ceiling. Or….you keep him in reserve while he continues to develop, and call him up if playing time opens up.
If keeping him down allows the Reds to add and keep Payton in the organization, then that seems a good plan to add more depth.
Plus Fairchild gives them more options as the sixth outfielder.
LOL, this is just my thoughts on a guy like Aquino, for what it is worth? My heart wants to believe that some changes he made in his approach, etc,. have made him a possible star at the MLB level. My head and 1000’s of baseball games I have watched over the years tell me, it was probably a combo of alot of fastballs and a baseball that jumped off the bat like a rocket that made him so successful in his hot streak last year.
I am willing to take it a step further. Clearly the top 5 are Winker/Ervin/Senzel/Shogo/Castellanos.
Payton is CLEARLY #6.
Here are some September stats for Aquino:
Vs. Changeup or Splitter
BA = Slg% = 0.063
OPS: 0.125 (1 single in 16 base appearances)
Strikeouts: 9
Swinging K%: 40%
What was confusing was he crushed the changeup in August (OPS>2).
Further research shows that in September they threw outside the zone outside 70% more often than in August. He saw 24 change-ups in September with 2 strikes. Only 1 of those 24 were in the strike zone. 9 of the 24 resulted in strikeouts.
Sean, you will get no love for Aquino. Everyone here has made up their mind on him. It’s used to drive me nuts, but there is a bit of follow the leader here. If Doug says so, most will echo his sentiments. Reality is Aquino is a bit of a wild card, but his high end beats out ALL of the other Reds outfield. Senzel and Winker are made out of glass. Aquino will get his shot this season. If that doesn’t happen, and i hope it doesn’t Ervin will be what he’s always been a AAA player, not even a AAAA player.
MBS, the team signed 2 starting caliber outfielders. They probably would not have if the team believed August is his normal rather than September. He had a .619 OPS in September, a .651 OPS in Dominican League winter ball, and went 1-20 in Spring Training. The reality is in a shortened season like this, we can’t afford his September numbers for too many games.
Aquino is intriguing, but he had one other-wordly month followed by a dismal month–hinting that pitchers figured him out. He never looked outstanding in the minors.
Has MLB decided that no fans will be allowed to come to games at all this year? Has any consideration been made that only a fraction of normal tickets be sold, perhaps separating rows with seating by empty rows? Seems kind of a shame to not allow any fans at all, when they do add to the game. Could rope off all the seats within ‘n’ rows of the field if that’s an issue. Rope off different sections…
Has something like this been considered? Is it just too difficult to manage? Just wondering.
So I found this on the Reds website: “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Major League Baseball season will be played with a revised regular season schedule. If fans are permitted to attend games based on the revised schedule at Great American Ball Park at any point this season, tickets will be sold for those games at a later date.”
So I assume they are taking a wait and see attitude depending on Covid rates, MLB policies, etc.
Well most state governors have great power unless you live in Wisconsin. State Legislation and State Supreme Court have handcuffed our governor from almost doing anything without their permission first.
Nice write up up on Jose Peraza who has apparently reworked his swing in Boston.
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020/07/jose-peraza-boston-red-sox-new-second-baseman-offensively-i-feel-like-im-a-completely-different-person.html
Lets wait and see what the stats say after a few weeks of the season before we say he is a changed player. I was very hopeful for Peraza and it never panned out so far. Hope he can turn it around for his sake.
It hit the table under the Laura’s Lean Beef burger picture behind the bullpen. Probably 440 feet.