“Pitchers and catchers report” is much more exciting as a concept than in reality.
Those four words conjure images of spring, of shorts and short sleeves, cacti and palm trees, bats and balls, summertime and sunshine.
Reality is a line to be weighed, forms to fill out and saying hi to the boss. Report date is just that, reporting for duty — but not necessarily performing any duties.
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That’s what Tuesday will be for the Cincinnati Reds. Pitchers and catchers will report. Wednesday they will actually work out. In the end, it’s a baseball practice. It’s not too exciting, but the symbolism is.
As a team, there are plenty of questions for the Reds, but this edition of “Three Up, Three Down” will focus on just those four words and two positions — pitchers and catchers.
Three Up
1. Competition for the rotation
As it stands, there’s one open spot in the rotation. That seems odd considering the team’s leader in innings from a year ago is in Korea (Tim Adleman), the man with the most starts is in free-agent limbo (Scott Feldman), its highest-paid starter (Homer Bailey) has made 26 starts and $47 million over the last three seasons and the announced Opening Day starter for each of the last two seasons (Anthony DeSclafani) has made exactly zero Opening Day starts.
Still, Reds’ general manager Dick Williams said he’s had good reports on the health of DeSclafani, Bailey and Brandon Finnegan, who made all of four starts in 2017 and 39 as a big-leaguer. Those three are locked into the rotation.
But this is the up section, so let’s focus on the other parts — namely Luis Castillo.
Acquired for Dan Straily last January, the 25-year-old right-hander was a legitimate ray of light for the Reds’ pitching future. Castillo was 3-7 with a 3.12 ERA in 15 starts as a rookie after being moved up from Double-A. He struck out nearly 10 batters per nine innings and struck out three times as many batters as he walked. Over his final eight starts of the season, he was 2-3 with a 2.37 ERA. In his final start, he went eight innings and struck out 10 Brewers, allowing one run on four hits and no walks.
That’s four spots and then another one in the rotation up for grabs from a host of players, all with their ups and downs in the big leagues so far.
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• RHP Robert Stephenson: The team’s top prospect from 2014 to 2016, the right-hander started the 2017 season in the bullpen before being sent back to Triple-A to start. He went 5-4 with a 3.41 ERA in 11 starts and 5-3 with a 2.74 ERA in his final eight starts of the season.
• RHP Sal Romano: Romano emerged last spring, but struggled in his initial foray into the big leagues. Once Romano started using his changeup, he finished the season by going 3-3 with a 3.17 ERA over his final eight starts.
• RHP Tyler Mahle: The youngest of the young guns shooting for a rotation spot, Mahle is also the most polished. Mahle made four starts in August and September, going 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA. He struggled with his command some once he was called up, but his minor-league track record suggests that was an anomaly. He’s a dark-horse candidate to claim the fifth spot.
• LHP Amir Garrett: Garrett was the team’s best starter when he was first sent down to the minors in May in a bit of service time manipulation, and then he wasn’t the same confident pitcher upon his return. Garrett dealt with some injuries both in the minors and after his return, going 0-5 with a 9.82 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) from June on.
• LHP Cody Reed: Reed was the central piece in the team’s trade of Johnny Cueto to the Royals at the trade deadline in 2015. His talent and stuff have been apparent to the naked eye, but not yet in his big-league results. Reed still has fewer than 200 innings in Triple-A and just more than 500 in professional baseball combined. Reed’s stuff is still as good as anyone’s and if he can get out of his own way, he could still be a building block.
• RHP Michael Lorenzen: A reliever the last two years, he’ll get a chance to start in spring. A spot in the rotation seems like a long shot, but he’s started before. If he doesn’t make the rotation, he’ll be slotted back into the eighth-inning role where he’s had some success setting up closer Raisel Iglesias.
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2. Bolstered bullpen
The Reds signed two free agents to big-league contracts, adding right-handers David Hernandez and Jared Hughes to two-year deals to help solidify the bullpen.
The team also added veterans Vance Worley, Kevin Quackenbush and Jeff Manship on minor-league deals.
With five spots pretty much claimed (Iglesias, Lorenzen, Wandy Peralta, Hernandez and Hughes), that leaves two to three spots for competition among a group that includes youngsters Ariel Hernandez, Kevin Shackelford and Austin Brice, all of whom showed potential in 2017, as well as prospects Zack Weiss and Jimmy Herget.
3. Tucker’s team
Tucker Barnhart has been asked to hold down the fort while Devin Mesoraco has dealt with injuries to his hips and shoulders, but he’s done much more than that. He planted his flag in the fort.
Winner of a Gold Glove in 2017, Barnhart not only solidified his reputation as one of the best defenders and game callers in baseball, but he also put together a solid season at the plate with a .270/.347/.403 slash line.
For the first time in his career, the 27-year-old Barnhart enters the season as the team’s Opening Day catcher without an asterisk attached.
Three Down
1. Can everyone stay healthy?
The top three in the Reds’ rotation made a combined 22 starts last season, 18 of those coming from Bailey.
DeSclafani never pitched because of an elbow injury and Finnegan made just four starts before a forearm injury put him on the disabled list and an injury to his non-throwing shoulder ended his 2017.
None of the three were healthy at the same time in 2017. Much of the team’s internal optimism for the 2018 season hinges on crossed fingers that the trio can give them significant innings.
2. What’s Mesoraco’s role?
Since signing his four-year, $28-million extension following his All-Star season in 2014, Devin Mesoraco has started a total of 55 games behind the plate, 37 of them this past season.
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Since 2015, he’s had surgery to repair the labrum in both hips and in his left shoulder. His 2017 ended with a broken left foot.
Mesoraco is expected to be healthy heading into camp, but what’s his role with the emergence of Barnhart as the team’s regular catcher?
3. Can young starters take the next step?
As noted above, there are several young starters that the Reds are optimistic about. But how many can they count on?
The team centered its rebuild around young arms and so far, the one with the most success was a late add in a trade before spring training started last season.
Bailey and Johnny Cueto are Cincinnati’s top homegrown starters in a long time — and Bailey’s been good for just a 6.0 WAR in his career. Cueto has won a World Series, but for Kansas City before signing a long-term deal with the Giants.
Attracting free-agent pitchers to Great American Ball Park will always be an issue, so the team must develop its own — and to be successful it will have to develop them better than they have in the past decade.
(Top image: The late-season performance of Luis Castillo was a positive sign for the Reds’ future. Credit: Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports)
