Observations from Reds’ Monday Workouts

by — July 6, 2020 in 2020 Reds

The Reds were back into the full swing of workouts today after the holiday weekend and here below are some of the notes from our writers today watching the practice:

  • Position workouts for the catchers, infield and outfield were held to begin the practice. Appeared as if all infielders were present on the summer camp roster.
  • Farmer participated in both the catcher and infield workouts pointing towards his dual role of backup shortstop and backup catcher. He even made a diving slide on a grounder.
  • Suarez looked healthy again in both the infield drills and batting practice – one of the bonuses of a late start due to COVID-19.

  • Senzel impressed in the agility drills of the outfielders – by far the most agile followed by Akiyama, Ervin, and then Payton.

  • After position drills, many of the Reds took batting practice including newly acquired Matt Davidson who was absolutely crushing the ball. Davidson had a stellar Spring Training in March before it was cut short.
  • In live BP, Trevor Bauer, Cody Reed and Joel Kuhnel each took the mound against live batters. Reed dominated each batter as no one could touch his slider. It would be a huge plus for the Reds if Reed is an effective reliever this season – so much potential early in his career. Bauer also pitched well but struggled to locate his curveball – when he did, it was filthy.

  • Pitchers are far ahead of the hitters right now, which was the story back in Spring Training. Votto is still in his routine of seeing pitches and has yet to put the ball in play in live BP over the past few days workouts.
  • Lorenzen will be good this year. Following his impressive pitching performance over the weekend, he was crushing the ball in BP today, with his last swing an opposite field home run. It would not surprise me to see him play in nearly all of the games this year in any capacity – reliever, outfielder, pinch hitter, pinch runner in extras.
  • Castellanos smashed a home run off of Bauer for the last pitch of BP. As soon as it left the bat it was a no-doubter. Whether or not he starts RF or is DH, his bat will be a much needed upgrade in the middle of the order.

  • More of the team was wearing masks today while not doing drills. However, one of the only players to wear a mask during live BP or drills was Joel Kuhnel, who made his debut in BP today.

  • My favorite part of the practice: Matt Bowman, Freddy Galvis, Lucas Sims, and others played soccer on an impromptu field. Let’s just say they should stick to baseball.

  • See the link below to watch the whole workout:

David Kelley

David Kelley is a lifelong Reds fan and has lived in Northern Kentucky all of his life. As a kid he fell in love with the Redlegs, especially Bronson Arroyo, and would often be seen imitating his high leg-kick while pitching. David is still waiting to see his first Reds’ playoff series win after being in the nosebleeds for the infamous 2012 NLDS Game 5 loss vs the Giants. He is graduating from Thomas More University this spring with a Biology and Chemistry dual-degree and will be attending medical school in the Fall. @D_Kelley18

6 Responses

  1. pinson343 says:
    July 6, 2020 at 11:40 PM

    Thanks, David. A lot of fun to read. As long as the Reds can stay healthy ….

    • dkelley18 says:
      July 7, 2020 at 3:13 AM

      Staying healthy is crucial for such a short season. The Reds do have some added depth this year unlike years past, but an injury to Castellanos, Suarez, Castillo, Gray, etc could mean missing out on the playoffs.

  2. Brian Van Hook says:
    July 7, 2020 at 1:33 AM

    Hey there, guys, was there ever any speculation as to which two Reds players tested positive for Covid-19? ….

    Notes from the first day of workouts indicated that only four players from the GABP roster were not seen on camera: Disco, Mahle, Justin Shafer and Pedro Strop. Three of those four, all except Strop, were accounted for in Sunday’s notes. So unless Strop is one of those two, they must be from the group assigned to Mason ??

    • Brian Van Hook says:
      July 7, 2020 at 1:52 AM

      I haven’t seen Aquino’s name mentioned yet, and he would be with the group at GABP, wouldn’t he ??

      • dkelley18 says:
        July 7, 2020 at 3:17 AM

        I believe those four names are the only ones not accounted for. Just speculation at this point, but I’m sure there’s good reasoning for them not being there.

        Aquino did make the 60 man roster and is eligible to play this year, but he is training at Prasco Park. I expect him to get some ABs this year but only in a limited capacity.

    • Steve Mancuso says:
      July 7, 2020 at 1:01 PM

      The only player we haven’t seen at GABP out of the 35 names is Pedro Strop. Aquino was assigned to Prasco and he has been seen batting there. Since the Reds don’t stream the Prasco practices and the beat writers, who were given access there just yesterday, haven’t been providing info on who is there and who isn’t, we only have spotty info on the 22 players there.

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