Observations from the Reds intrasquad scrimmage (7/8)

by — July 8, 2020 in 2020 Reds

The Reds played their first “game” since summer camp began, a three-inning intrasquad scrimmage that saw Team Gray Pants defeat Team White Pants 2-0. Here are some things we observed during the game:

  • Anthony DeSclafani started and pitched all three “innings” for Team White Pants. Lucas Sims started for Team Gray Pants, pitching two innings, and was relieved by Nate Jones in the final frame.
  • I put “innings” in quotes because they seemed to change base on pitch counts rather than outs. For instance, DeSclafani faced four batters in the first inning and retired all four, while Sims faced three batters in the first but retired only two.
  • With the score tied 0-0, the teams started the top and bottom of the third inning with runners on second.
  • Nick Castellanos provided the only runs of the scrimmage when he hit what proved to be the game-winning home run in the top of the third. The two-run shot just snuck over the wall in the right-field corner. Gotta think Castellanos is thrilled he isn’t playing half his games in the cavernous Comerica Park anymore.
  • The only other hits in the game were singles collected by the catchers, Tucker Barnhart and Curt Casali.
  • A big surprise: Joey Votto walked in both of his at-bats — one against Sims and one against Jones.
  • Shogo Akiyama struck out in both at-bats, although he did have a long battle with Sims to lead off the game.
  • Sims looked sharp, striking out three of the seven batters he faced. His curveball and slider were in top form; both had considerable late-breaking movement that make him a breakout candidate in 2020. Here’s the slider Sims threw to strikeout Suarez
  • The Castellanos homer aside, DeSclafani pitched well. He allowed only one other hit while striking out two batters — one of them a beautiful backdoor two-seamer to strike out Castellanos in his first plate appearance. Here is DeSclafani locking up Nick Senzel on an off-speed pitch for a called strike three.
  • Josh VanMeter, Phillip Ervin, Kyle Farmer, Mark Payton, and Alex Blandino got in some extra at-bats after the scrimmage against two pitchers on the Prasco Park roster (which had today off): Brooks Raley, David Carpenter, and R.J. Alaniz. Tyler Stephenson and Francisco Pena caught the post-game live batting practice.

You can watch the full scrimmage and post-game BP here:

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Matt Wilkes

Matt Wilkes got hooked on Reds baseball after attending his first game in Cinergy Field at 6 years old, and he hasn’t looked back. As a kid, he was often found imitating his favorite players — Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Sean Casey, and Austin Kearns — in the backyard. When he finally went inside, he was leading the Reds to 162-0 seasons in MVP Baseball 2005 or keeping stats for whatever game was on TV. He started writing about baseball in 2014 and has become fascinated by analytics and all the new data in the game. Matt is also a graduate of The Ohio State University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow him on Twitter at @_MattWilkes.

1 Response

  1. R Smith says:
    July 8, 2020 at 6:07 PM

    Nick Castellanos brings the Reds a BIG bat. This guy could be a really huge weapon in GABP in a short season surrounded by some quality hitters..

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