Two New Reds Ready To Take Their Cuts — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

GOODYEAR, Ariz.—Both Rookie Davis and Cody Reed, two of the top pitching prospects in the Reds’ system, immediately thought about the same thing when they were traded.

Reed (who came to the Reds from Kansas City last year in the Johnny Cueto deal) and Davis (a part of the Aroldis Chapman trade with the Yankees) immediately thought about the fact that changing leagues meant they’d have to hit.

“National League—great,” Reed remembers thinking.

Reed’s inflection on the word great made it clear that he didn’t think it was great.

Davis may have used the same word, “great,” but there was no tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

“After the trade, I talked with Mr. (Walt) Jocketty and I mentioned hitting a couple of times,” Davis said. “And then the player development guy over with the Yankees called and the first thing he said is ‘you get to hit now.’”

Davis committed to be a two-way player at East Carolina, playing first base in addition to pitching, but didn’t reach campus. In high school in North Carolina, Davis hit better than .500 in each of his last two seasons.

Davis ordered bats shortly after his trade, readying for his first professional at-bats.

“Any time you get a bat in your hands,” Davis said, “it’s a good day.”

Reed went 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts in four games against National League affiliates after joining Double-A Pensacola last year.

“There’s no trying to sugar-coat it, hitting is not one of my strong points,” Reed said.

The lack of a hitting background for many of the young pitchers in Reds camp has necessitated early and more offensive fundamentals this spring, Reds manager Bryan Price said.

“The good news is that there are a lot of young pitchers, usually the younger they are, the more excited they are about hitting and running the bases and things of that nature,” Price said.

“Obviously, the starting pitching prospects, as well as the guys we think could help us with some length roles in the bullpen, they’ll get extra work with that stuff.”

RED HOTS

• The Reds are loaded with young starting pitching prospects, but Price wouldn’t rule out some of the young pitchers—such as Nick Travieso, Amir Garrett or Sal Romano—making their big league debut as relievers.

• Starting shortstop Zack Cozart will be slowly introduced to Cactus League games, meaning shortstop Calten Daal should get more playing time. Carlton is Daal’s given name, but he prefers Calten.