Photo: Doug Gray
The Cincinnati Reds have announced their first cuts of spring training today. This morning they sent one of their top prospects – Cam Collier – along with catcher Connor Burns, infielders Michael Chavis and Michael Toglia, as well as pitchers Carson Spiers and Joel Valdez to minor league camp.
All six of those players were non-roster invitees to big league camp this year. The two pitchers are both injured and haven’t not pitched in games yet. This set of moves leaves 51 players in big league spring training as they head into this afternoon’s game with the Chicago Cubs.
Cam Collier, the Reds #9 prospect, was in big league spring training for the second straight year and unlike last year he was able to get through his portion of big league camp without injury. He played in five games this year with Cincinnati and went 1-7 with an RBI.
Catcher Connor Burns only played in three games and he only had two at-bats. He went 0-2 with those two trips to the plate. Michael Toglia played in eight games. He had two hits, two walks, and he drove in a run. Michael Chavis played in seven games and had 11 plate appearances. He went 3-11 with a home run during that time.
Among this group there wasn’t likely anyone who had much of a shot at breaking camp with the club this spring. Even the veteran types in Chavis and Toglia were long shots as they were quite far down the depth chart and behind a lot of guys with established performance in the big leagues, big league contracts, or spots on the 40-man roster.
Minor League camp began yesterday, so now that it’s opened up there are places for these guys to go and get more time on the field. That’s going to allow them to get ready for the minor league season, which will begin at the end of March for Triple-A and in the first week of April for the other full season teams.
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