There was some good stuff to see on the field on Tuesday afternoon for the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately there was also some not-so-good stuff that took place, too. Nick Lodolo looked dominant on the mound as he stretched out to 3.0 innings. On the flip side, infielder Donovan Solano suffered a hamstring injury while running the bases and exited the game early.
Reiver Sanmartin started the game for Cincinnati on Tuesday and he was charged with an unearned run while allowing just one hit in 3.0 innings and he picked up a strikeout. The lefty has not allowed an earned run in his 4.0 innings this spring. He was followed by fellow left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo who matched him and then some. Lodolo, the first pitcher selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, threw 3.0 shutout innings while allowing just one hit and he picked up three strikeouts along the way. He’s now allowed just one run in 7.1 innings this spring and has allowed five hits, walked just one, and struck out nine.
Both Reiver Sanmartin and Nick Lodolo are trying to earn a spot in the Reds rotation. With three spots open, the only starters remaining in big league camp are Tyler Mahle, Vladimir Gutierrez, Hunter Greene, Reiver Sanmartin, and Nick Lodolo. Earlier in the day, Tony Santillan confirmed to Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he would be pitching out of the bullpen. It seems that at this point the rotation may very well be set unless the Reds decide to go with a 4-man rotation early on or use Jeff Hoffman in the rotation even though he’s not scheduled to start over the next week.
The Donovan Solano injury hasn’t yet been discussed as to the severity, simply relayed by the Reds that it was a hamstring injury. He started the game at shortstop, likely to give the manager a chance to see him there as a potential option to be the backup to Kyle Farmer at the position in the early part of the season. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. In the 3rd inning Solano singled and drove in a run. But after Tyler Stephenson singled to follow, Solano reached second base but then grabbed at the back of his leg and quickly exited the game with manager David Bell and trainer Tomas Vera. If we want to try and parse any good news from what we could see, Solano walked off the field on his own – though he didn’t seem pleased – and also carried his own gear bag from the dugout as he headed into the clubhouse.
Update on March 30th
Donovan Solano is not expected to be healthy for opening day and is expected to begin the season on the injured list.
Connor Phillips is the PTBNL in the trade with the Mariners. Time to slot him in your top 25 for the Reds Doug
Both sides hyped that more than it was worth. His K rate is impressive but he’s not even in their top 30. It’ll be interesting to see Doug’s take.
He was in their top 30. Assuming you went looking for him on their mlb top 30 but he was already moved to the reds #14 there
This is good. I was expecting some career minor leaguer with no upside. This is not that.
I was expecting a slightly older reliever type – say from AA, with a little AAA time. Sounds like Phillips has another year or two to develop as a starter. This is much better, and better than a simple flyer/lottery chance. They are approaching a quantity of MiLB pitching depth which they haven’t had for quite a while.
If the system works, they should get decent production from some of these guys starting next year.
I don’t know where he was on the Mariners MLB’s 22 top prospect list, but for the 21 season he is listed as the #7. He is now our 14th.
Exciting to see 5 Reds first round draft picks make the OD roster as starters! They’ve been fortunate to have high picks, but still have to draft very well to get five starters on the same team.
I liked watching both lefties today. It’s crazy to think if Sanmartin sticks, that as early as next year we could have 3 LHP in our rotation. The future of this rotation is so bright, I would love them to lock up Castillo to a 4 or 5 year deal. If so we could be starting a really fun run of baseball.
Arms like Castillo don’t grow on trees. Yes. Extend this guy. Mahle, too.
Jerry Dipoto, master marketer. I doubt Connor Phillips hurts much at all – other than Dipoto’s ribs from the laughter
The guy has a high upside.
Except for Williamson and dumping Geno and his salary, I’m not seeing much. Dunn? Out with shoulder problems. Farley? A career .196 hitter. Phillips? High upside? Clutching at straws.
Since these guys are prospects, we don’t know how good they’ll be. We do know that the guys we traded are older and pretty much one-dimensional.
I saw somewhere that the Reds were to be given a list of players to choose from for the player to be named, and I wonder if Dipoto was in a situation where he had to say something, and what else was he gonna say?? ‘These guys are all expendable anyway’ ???
2 actual prospects (1st or 2nd round draft choices) and two young major leaguers ( albeit one currently broken) with upside was a pretty good return considering all the salary the Mariners took on in the trade. I still think Geno is going to have a solid bouce back year though (.245/30+hr/80+ rbi)