The Cincinnati Reds announced this afternoon that infielder/outfielder Derek Dietrich has been added to their 60-man player pool. Dietrich, who was with the team in spring training back in February and March, was notably among the four players not brought back as a part of the player pool roster in July. Catcher Chris Okey was also not brought back, while pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez was suspended for a positive drug test and is not eligible, and infielder Blake Trahan opted to retire from baseball (he was invited back by the Reds).
C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic is reporting that Derek Dietrich had COVID-19, and that he felt “very fortunate” and had a few symptoms.
Dietrich said he was "very fortunate" and he had few symptoms
— C. ???????????? (@ctrent) July 15, 2020
Small sample size alarm here, but Dietrich wasn’t having much success in his limited time back in February and March. The 30-year-old Pittsburgh Pirate annihilator was hitting .174/.259/.478 with 12 strikeouts in 27 plate appearances during spring training out in Arizona. Now, we generally know that spring stats don’t mean much and for a variety of different reasons – but things hadn’t been going well before the baseball world was put on hiatus.
The addition of Derek Dietrich to the 60-man player pool puts Cincinnati’s roster at a total of 58 players. That also puts the group over at Prasco Park at 23 players, while 35 remain on the Great American Ballpark side – though at this point those numbers don’t mean too much as intrasquad scrimmages are happening nearly every day and players from Prasco are coming to Great American Ballpark to participate. Those “rosters” matter a bit more once the season begins and players will be more closely aligned with their specific ballpark roster.
Matt Bowman is back
Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer noted this afternoon that relief pitcher Matt Bowman is back on the mound after dealing with some elbow soreness. The right-handed pitcher threw a bullpen session yesterday that saw him toss 35 pitches. Bowman is likely competing for one of the final spots in the bullpen on the roster.
Hunter Greene? Head Scratcher