The Cincinnati Reds are starting a 3-game series tonight as they take on the other Cincinnati Reds. In a fun little scenario two of the coaches drafted teams made up of the player pool rosters and will face off against each other Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The winning team will get the day off on Monday before the team welcomes in the Detroit Tigers for two scrimmages. Opening Day is a week from today.
Watch Live
You can watch the game below by clicking play, or if you would like to you can follow this link to watch the game at Reds.com. The game is also available via MLB.tv, it’s free right now, and has a few different camera angles that you don’t get via Reds.com – so check that out if you’d like.
The Lineups
The two teams have names. There is “The Cincy Ballers” and “Fred’s Reds”.
Cincy Ballers |
Fred’s Reds |
| Josh VanMeter – 1B | Phillip Ervin – LF |
| Nick Castellanos – RF | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Mike Moustakas – 2B | Eugenio Suarez – 3B |
| Matt Davidson – DH | Jesse Winker – DH |
| Nick Senzel – CF | Aristides Aquino – RF |
| Mark Payton – LF | Shogo Akiyama – CF |
| Kyle Farmer – SS | Freddy Galvis – SS |
| Tucker Barnhart – C | Curt Casali – C |
| Christian Colon – 3B | Alex Blandino – 2B |
| Wade Miley – P | Tyler Mahle – P |
Cincinnati Reds News and Notes
The Reds make some roster moves
At 5:30pm on Friday the Cincinnati Reds made six roster moves as they cut down the players on the “active” roster. Four players were optioned to the alternate site at Prasco Park, and two more were reassigned to the alternate site at Prasco Park. Think of this much like it is in spring training and being sent back to the minors – the transaction itself is described for the purpose of the move based on whether one is on the 40-man or not.
Optioned to the Prasco Park site
- Aristides Aquino
- Matt Bowman
- Joel Kuhnel
- Justin Shafer
Reassigned to the Prasco Park site
- Jose Garcia
- Tyler Thornburg
Jose Garcia, Aristides Aquino, Matt Bowman, Joel Kuhnel, and Justin Shafer are all still a part of the Summer Series that will take place this weekend – they just get different roster assignment now.
The Summer Series rosters
As noted above, two coaches on the team drafted players to create the two teams. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic was the first to report the two team rosters over on twitter.
Here are the rosters for the #Reds' 3-game Summer Series pic.twitter.com/oSBF3mWEvB
— C. ???????????? (@ctrent) July 17, 2020
Tyler Stephenson could be ready any day
Manager David Bell spoke about catching prospect Tyler Stephenson, noting that there was “no limitation on when he can arrive for the Reds” and how the team has gone about trying to develop him for the 2020 year, even during the shutdown.
Tyler Stephenson: No limitation on when he can arrive for the Reds
Hitting isn’t easy
We’ll close out the news and notes section today by sharing a video of prospect Ryan Hendrix showing off his splitter against Aristides Aquino over at Prasco Park at some point in the recent past. Yeah – good luck, hitters.
@PitchingNinja Don’t forget about the alt site arms for the Reds over at Prasco Field. Split Change ?? pic.twitter.com/qUiSLYTtPH
— Ryan Hendrix (@RyanHendrix11) July 16, 2020
That number feels so insanely low, but maybe once you get guys in who don’t have it, you can stop the spread quite well.
On the flip side, I saw a tweet and I can’t remember who had it so I’ll apologize in advanced, the Royals have literally 4 catchers on the COVID-19 list right now….. That’s incredible.
For those who missed it, Tyler Mahle hit Nick Castellanos in the upper back with a fastball in the top of the 1st. He was checked on by the trainers for a bit before getting up and walking to the dugout himself. Travis Jankowski now in left, Mark Payton slid over to right.
Just now, during the middle of the inning (and middle of an at-bat), Nick Castellanos walked behind the plate (on the field) to get back to his teams dugout. Probably a good sign that he’s alright, if not maybe just a little sore after being plunked in the back.
Nick seemed to be eye-balling Tyler as he walked behind home plate. I wouldn’t want Castellanos mad at me for too long!
I saw that too, but then thought, he’s probably just making sure the ball isn’t thrown because that’s incredibly dangerous to be back there right now.
Reds announced at the stadium that Nick Castellanos is fine.
So we can all sleep a little better tonight.
The game is also available on MLB.tv, and it has a few camera angles that you won’t see via the Reds.com broadcast – game is free, so if you’re interested – check that one out
They have added PA for the first time, but no field mic to pick up the sound of the ball hitting the bat or the catcher’s mitt. Hopefully they plan to add a field mic. That is a pretty essential element for the viewer.
I can’t imagine that they won’t have field level mics once the games actually start counting.
I’m just guessing here, but once announcers get in the booth, they’ll turn the levels down just a tad on the “crowd” and get the actual game sounds in there. Could be as simple as right now they don’t want any “colorful” language being dropped on the games with no announcers to possibly be talking over it as it happens.
The language is going to be a challenge for TV and radio. If they position the field mics correctly (further back), it will help. Voices don’t carry particularly well in a large stadium unless the mic is close to the person doing the yelling, even when the stadium is nearly empty. Bat-hitting-ball sounds will carry, so the field mics can be back, maybe hanging from the press box windows. But you have to have some field sound or the fake crowd noise really seems artificial.
I saw somewhere that there will be booth announcers for the games on Saturday and Sundayl
This would be wonderful.
Anyone know what CB & FR denoting the team’s stands for?
Cincy Ballers, Fred’s Reds. Those are the team names, as chosen by the coaches who drafted each team.
Thanks!!!
That’s the first out that wasn’t a strikeout by Mahle.
First seven outs were all K’s, but he’s down 3-0 due to a double, a hit batter and a home run.
I just noticed – the only umpire is the one behind the plate. There are none on the base paths.
I definitely saw one at first base earlier.
And right on cue we get an overhead shot. It’s just the home plate and 1st base umpire. No others.
You are correct. My bad.
So, fellow Reds brethren, has anyone played their way into higher consideration for the 30 roster in the past week? Have been impressed by what unknown to me RP Carpenter has shown, and I’ve liked Antone but am thinking he’s still too unfinished a product. Thoughts from RLNLand?
Reports out today that Castellanos is fine. I doubt we see him today, but hopefully tomorrow or one of the exhibition games against the Tigers.
Reds about to get real fat on Tigers.
Tonight is 6:10pm.
Tomorrow is 1:10pm.