The Cincinnati Reds will play host to the Oakland Athletics this afternoon in Goodyear. First pitch is set for 3:05pm ET. Graham Ashcraft takes the mound today before everyone gets a day off (at least from games) tomorrow.
Athletics (2-2) vs Reds (2-2)
Athletics |
Reds |
|||
| 1 | Nick Allen | SS | Jonathan India | 2B |
| 2 | Conner Capel | RF | Curt Casali | C |
| 3 | JJ Bleday | CF | Jason Vosler | 3B |
| 4 | Brent Rooker | LF | Kevin Newman | DH |
| 5 | Dermis Garcia | 1B | Elly De La Cruz | SS |
| 6 | Jordan Diaz | 2B | Nick Solak | LF |
| 7 | Yohel Pozo | C | Alex McGarry | 1B |
| 8 | Kevin Smith | 3B | Henry Ramos | RF |
| 9 | Zack Gelof | DH | Michael Siani | CF |
| 10 | Adrian Martinez | RHP | Graham Ashcraft | RHP |
Wil Myers was a late scratch from the lineup and was replaced by Alex McGarry at first base. No word on why Myers isn’t playing.
Reserve players on today’s Reds roster:
Where to watch/listen/follow the game
There will be no televised broadcast of the game today. If you are looking to follow along on the radio you can tune into 1360 WSAI for the coverage.
Reds links and news
Will Joey Votto be ready or not?
Asked if Joey Votto could be ready in time for Opening Day, David Bell said this: “I don’t have confidence or a lack of confidence that will happen. With Joey, I just trust it. Nothing would surprise me. I don’t have any more information today. I’m just letting it play out."
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) March 1, 2023
The Reds emphasis athleticism…. in athletes?
Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about how the Reds are focusing on athleticism in their scouting of players. That feels like a strange statement to make given that that seems like something that every scout should have been doing since scouts began to exist. While you don’t have to look like an athlete, to play at the highest level you’ve got to have some athleticism somewhere. Be it quick wrists, hands, feet – something athletic is going to stand out. Guys can’t hit 90+ MPH fastballs without some level of elite athleticism somewhere.
MLB Pipeline updates their Reds Top 30 Prospects
The crew at MLB Pipeline has updated the Cincinnati Reds Top 30 prospect list. If you’re into that kind of thing, here’s the link to satisfy you.
Another game where EDLC starts at Short but the game isn’t televised.
While I get your point on “athletes”, I just hope this doesn’t end up being the Full Bowden approach.
5 tools are great — but ignoring production and results in favor of potential due to athleticism can be self defeating. And the Reds, as we all agree, have been expert at defeating themselves for years!
A player who can run very fast is better than a player (with the same other skills) as a a guy who is slow. As Doug suggests, this is a bit axiomatic. I do think that speed is vastly underrated in today’s game.
I don’t exactly know how to pull it off, but I would try to get guys with 99 percentile eyesight. Hitting today’s MLB pitching requires great hand-eye coordination, and that skill involves eyesight every bit as much as it involves athleticism.
Per cTrent: low back stiffness for Myers.
I kind of understand sliding Richardson into the top 30 even though I wouldn’t. I don’t really understand sticking Karcher in there though.
How do you justify Karcher over Boyle, Rivera, Aguiar, Hajjar, Cerda, Acuna, Hopkins, Huggins, Hunter, Bonnin, Confidan, and Roa to just rattle off a quick dozen names off the top of my head. I could probably add another dozen
I wonder if Boyle is a formula mystery. Perhaps some lists disqualify him based on the BB%, while simply discounting it should have him comfortably in the top 20, if not top 10.
There’s certainly a small category of all-or-nothing talents and he’s comfortably in that group.
Lively remains Deadly. Unless something changes, that will be one easy decision cut.
Yep, just checked the box score and it’s good to see the pitching staff is in mid season form.
Few thoughts
Cerda has the power, speed, defense, and arm. He also walks at a very good rate. If he can just cut the strike outs down a bit to get his average up in the 230s-240s he’d be an everyday player in a major league outfield. Glad to see he hit one out today
Also happy for Jay Allen getting a hit. I think he has a big rebound season this year.
McLain just walked for the 2nd time today. He’s been in base 5 out of 7 plate appearances this spring!
Gibaut has 6 k’s in 2 innings pitched
Its looking like McClain has a good chance to outplay Barrero this spring, we’ll see if the Reds will bring him north if he does.
CES appears to have hit a grand slam.
Since posting that
CES – grand slam
Cerda with a walk to add to his HR last inning
Allen with a double for his 2nd hit in as many at bats
McLain with 3walks today. I’ll take that everyday.
CES having a great day. I really like this guy.
An extreme small sample size comment – the MLB pitchers seem to be in MLB form, the AAAA and MiLB pitchers don’t.
And the inning kept going
Cerda and McLain walk again
CES and Marte Single
I wouldnt read too much into early march spring training games in the late innings
CES yes
Agreed. Not having Boyle in there is a real head scratcher. He should be in the top 15 at a minimum in my opinion.
This was meant to be a reply to BDH’s earlier comment. Not sure why it didn’t show up there.
Wouldn’t be shocked if they admitted they forgot about him
He was on their previous top 30 list for the reds and all he did last year was throw 100 innings of 2.86 ERA ball with 153 strike outs
Of course the control problems are there but You know who else has control problems – Ricky Karcher who they have ranked in the top 30
Hope Karcher becomes a high leverage reliever but Boyle is one of many Id put in a top 30 over him right now