On Monday the Cincinnati Reds pitchers, catchers, and some position players reported to Goodyear to officially begin spring training. With no games for nearly two weeks, much of what we hear, see, that gets reported is not going to be about anything that’s going on between the white lines on grass and dirt.
When it comes to the catchers, the Reds have five of them in big league camp. There doesn’t seem to be much competition here. Tyler Stephenson is the starter. Jose Trevino is the backup. As long as those two guys remain healthy, that’s the catching duo for the team.
The pitching staff, though, is a bit up in the air. The rotation seems to have more guys who should be in a big league rotation than there are spots available in a 5-man rotation that baseball has had for the last three decades. In the bullpen there’s strong competition for the limited number of spots, and like the rotation, there appears to be more big league quality arms fighting for spots than there are actual spots available.
With that said, you can never have too much pitching. And to sit here and type that the Reds seem to have more options available than spots available is weird. Things tend to rarely go as planned, though. A year ago today the club had more infielders available than they had spots for and then injuries and suspensions and more injuries piled up and all of a sudden they didn’t have enough quality infielders at any point during the season.
That could be the early story this week. While we already know that guys like Julian Aguiar and Brandon Williamson won’t pitch in 2025 after having Tommy John surgery late in 2024, and that Wade Miley won’t be ready to pitch until around May after his Tommy John surgery, they are likely not the only pitchers who are going to be dealing with something early on. Nearly every year someone shows up to spring training and we find out shortly thereafter that they are behind schedule for this, that, or the other.
Sometimes that turns out to be no big deal and in six weeks they are ready to take the field in Cincinnati for Opening Day. But that’s also not always the case. Take Ian Gibaut, for example. He was dealing with what seemed like a minor issue last spring and began the year on the injured list. Less than a week into the big league season he began a rehab assignment in the minor leagues, but after three weeks he was pulled from that rehab stint and didn’t take the mound again for nearly five months.
Until the games get started, it will likely be the news about the health of the pitchers – be it good news or not-so-good news that’s going to be worth paying attention to. Position players have already begun to show up, but everyone isn’t required to be in Goodyear until Saturday.
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