The Cincinnati Reds begin Cactus League play tomorrow afternoon. They had previously announced that left-handed pitcher Brandon Williamson would start the opener against the Cleveland Guardians, but they had not announced anyone who would be starting beyond that. That changed this afternoon. On Sunday against San Francisco the Reds will send newcomer to the organization Luke Weaver to the mound for the start. Monday will have the team handing the ball over to Hunter Greene as he starts against the Texas Rangers.
Saturday vs. Cleveland
The game will be available to watch on Bally Sports Ohio and MLB.tv. You can listen to it on 700 WLW. After Brandon Williamson exits the game the team is expected to get some relief from the following pitchers: Daniel Norris, Fernando Cruz, Daniel Duarte, Ricky Karcher, Derek Law, Reiver Sanmartin, Buck Farmer, and Lucas Sims.
Sunday vs. San Francisco
Sunday’s contest against the Giants will not be available to watch. You can listen in the greater Cincinnati area on 1360 WSAI. Once Luke Weaver exits the game the Reds are expected to turn the game over to the following relievers: Levi Stoudt, Tayron Guerrero, Joel Kuhnel, Alan Busenitz, Ben Lively, Alexis Diaz, Ian Gibaut, and Silvino Bracho.
Monday vs. Texas
Monday will see the Reds return to television on Bally Sports Ohio, and unlike Saturday’s game it will feature the Reds broadcast crew (Saturday will be the Cleveland broadcasters). When Hunter Greene completes his work the bullpen will take over and is expected to feature these pitchers out of the bullpen: Connor Overton, Luis Cessa, Lyon Richardson, Casey Legumina, Alex Young, and Kevin Herget. Perhaps we’ll get a look at the change up that Greene was working on during the offseason.
ZiPS likes the Reds Prospects
Dan Szymborski released the Top 100 prospects over at Fangraphs according to his ZiPS projections earlier today. The Reds have seven Top 100 prospects, and 11 on the top 200 (the players rated 101-200 aren’t shown in the article, but are referenced). Three players – Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, and Matt McLain are inside the top 31 on the list.
Among the Top 100 prospect list only Cleveland (9) and Baltimore (8) have more prospects on the list than Cincinnati does. Among the Top 200 it’s just the Los Angeles Dodgers (16!) and the Orioles (12) with more prospects on the list than the Reds (11).
The Reds seem to be collecting shortstop prospects and that showed up in these rankings:
The Cincinnati Reds have accumulated a comical number of shortstop prospects. Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, and (surprisingly) Matt McLain all make the top 15. Edwin Arroyo missed, but he ranks 58th overall, and yet another shortstop, 2021 third-rounder Jose Torres, finishes in the Top 200. Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, both higher-floor/lower-ceiling guys in ZiPS’ view, ought to feel a bit of urgency because someone here is inevitably going to join the fight for third base!
