The Cincinnati Reds leave Arizona to fly to Milwaukee where they will play two games against the Brewers to wrap up spring training on the 23rd and 24th. That’s less than a week from now and the team still has 34 healthy players in camp and need to get that down to 26 for Opening Day. Three players still in camp have been told they won’t be making the roster but could remain in big league camp for now, so the decisions are down to five players. One of those players is not right-handed pitcher Hagen Danner. Cincinnati sent the non-roster invitee to minor league camp this morning.
It’s been a good spring for Danner, who signed a minor league deal with the Reds in January that included an invite to big league spring training. In his first outing of the spring he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in an inning of work. Over the next eight outings he allowed one run on four hits and a walk in 7.2 innings that saw him strike out nine batters. In a tough Cactus League for pitchers he had a 3.12 ERA in his nine outings for Cincinnati while coming out of the bullpen to go along with his three walks and 10 strikeouts over 8.2 innings pitched.
With Danner now out of the equation for a spot in the bullpen and the Reds announcing yesterday that they would be using three pitchers (Chase Burns, Rhett Lowder, and Brandon Williamson) in some sort of rotating, situational two guys will start and one guy will relieve once a week kind of thing but those roles are likely to be split up and changed for all three of them early in the season, there’s only one spot in the bullpen left for a reliever.
The remaining relievers vying for that final job are Zach Maxwell, Luis Mey, and Sam Moll. Among that group only Moll is out of options. That could come into play.
Update at 12:26pm ET
Mark Sheldon of Reds.com is now reporting that Kyle Nicolas has been told he would be optioned to Triple-A on Sunday.
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Kyle Nicolas, who was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier in March has been playing in the World Baseball Classic and with Team Italy making it deep into the tournament he has yet to actually pitch this spring for the Reds. He only pitched in two games with the Pirates before heading off to the WBC, but he had two shutout appearances before he left. He allowed two runs in 1.2 innings with Team Italy.
Sam Moll has a shiny 0.00 ERA this spring in his eight outings. He’s only given up two hits in 8.0 innings and he’s struck out 10 batters. But he’s also walked six hitters as he’s struggled a little to consistently throw strikes.
Zach Maxwell has also struggled to throw strikes this spring with any consistency. The 25-year-old has pitched in eight games and allowed four earned runs in 7.1 innings (4.91 ERA) while giving up eight hits. He’s walked six batters, but he’s countered that with 12 strikeouts. He gave up a run in each of his first four outings but has not given up a run in the most recent three. Four of his six walks came in his first spring game, but he’s walked just two in the 6.2 innings since then.
Luis Mey has an ERA sitting at 13.50 through seven outings this spring. He’s given up 10 hits and walked three batters in 6.0 innings while striking out eight. His struggles were early in spring, giving up five runs in his first outing and then four runs and two walks in his third outing. Since then he has made four appearances without a walk, picking up three strikeouts, and being charged with just one unearned run.