Photo: Doug Gray
The World Baseball Classic got underway this week, but in the first two days no Cincinnati Reds players got on the field as the only pool that had played was Pool C which didn’t feature anyone from the organization. That changed on Friday when the other three groups in Pool play began.
The first Reds player to get on the field was left-handed pitcher Ryjeteri Merite and he had his work cut out for him. The 20-year-old has never pitched in a game outside of the Dominican Summer League, but he was good enough to be placed on Team Netherlands. In their opening game he came out of the bullpen to open up the 4th inning. The first batter he faced? Salvador Perez. He got ahead of him 0-2 before Perez would foul off three of the next four pitches. On the 7th pitch of the at-bat Merite came at him with a slider at 80.3 MPH and got him to chase it out of the zone and hit a weak fly ball to center for an out.
The next batter was Wilyer Abreu, who has played in 115+ games for the Boston Red Sox in the last two seasons and has a career OPS of .791 in the big leagues. He hit 22 home runs last season in 115 games. Merite threw him two sliders and the second one stayed in the zone enough for Abreu to ground it through the infield for a seeing eye single (79 MPH exit velo).
It didn’t get easier after that as William Contreras stepped up to the plate. The veteran has a career .805 OPS as a big leaguer in parts of the last six seasons. Merite fell behind him 2-0 and then 3-1, but came back with a 94 MPH sinker and got a grounder but former Reds prospect and long time big leaguer Didi Gregorius couldn’t come up with it cleanly and everyone was safe on the plate. That brought Javier Sanoja to the plate. He’s spent parts of the last two years with the Marlins and played in 120 games with them last season. Merite would get ahead with a called strike on a slider and then came back with a 92 MPH fastball that induced an inning-ending groundball double play. That would be the only inning he would pitch in the game.
Not long after that Great Britain and Mexico took the field and Ivan Johnson got the start for Team Great Britain at third base. He would finish the day 1-4, picking up a single in the 6th inning.
There are still games taking place today that could see more Reds players get on the field, but that’s it for now.
Several prospects had an impact in the spring training game on Friday afternoon. Steele Hall came off of the bench to take over at shortstop and he drove in a run with a single in his only at-bat. Yerlin Confidan came off of the bench late in the game when Blake Dunn was injured and in the next inning he came to the plate and drove in a run with a single of his own.
About The Author