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Reds Add Hunter Greene, Mark Kolozsvary To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Reds have announced a few roster moves, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic was among those to report. They have two new additions to their 60-man player pool in right-hander Hunter Greene and catcher Mark Kolozsvary. The club also selected the contract of reliever Nate Jones, who will make its season-opening roster, and optioned infielder Alex Blandino.

Greene may be the most notable name in the group, as he went second overall in the 2017 draft and then signed with the Reds for a record-setting $7.23MM bonus. Unfortunately, though, Greene’s coming off a major injury. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2019, thereby preventing him from pitching at all last season and building on his 2018 effort. While the hard-throwing Greene only pitched to a 4.48 ERA across 68 1/3 innings in Single-A ball that year, he did notch a 3.29 FIP with 11.72 K/9 and 3.03 BB/9.

Kolozsvary, 24, was also part of the Reds’ 2017 draft class. The former seventh-rounder has topped out so far in High-A ball, where he put up an unconventional line of .188/.341/.321 with six home runs in 291 plate appearances last season.

Reds Return Rule 5 Pick Mark Payton To Athletics

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4:03pm: Payton has indeed been added to the Athletics’ player pool, the team announced.

3:02pm: The Reds have returned Rule 5 pick Mark Payton to the Athletics, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old outfielder was not claimed by another club on waivers. It’s not yet clear if he’ll be part of Oakland’s 60-man player pool.

Last season was Payton’s first in the Oakland organization, and he made an impression with a gaudy .334/.400/.653 batting line in 447 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Payton bashed a career-best 30 home runs last year, albeit in an extremely hitter-friendly setting amid a leaguewide home run surge. (The Triple-A ball was the same as the MLB ball last year.) That said, Payton also altered his swing and hit fly-balls at a career-high rate in 2019, so the uptick in power wasn’t solely attributable to the league context.

Unfortunately for Payton, the Reds added multiple high-profile outfielders to a group that already included Nick Senzel, Jesse Winker, Aristides Aquino and Phil Ervin. Cincinnati signed both Nick Castellanos and Shogo Akiyama this winter, leaving Payton as a long-shot to make the club — even with an expanded roster. That crammed outfield already led to a DFA for Scott Schebler and Payton’s return to the A’s, but outfielder Travis Jankowski has been told he’ll make the Reds’ Opening Day roster, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets.

Reds Release Derek Dietrich

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Reds utilityman Derek Dietrich has requested and received his release from the team, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com tweets. Dietrich, whom the Reds brought back on a minor league contract over the winter, just joined their player pool last week after a positive coronavirus test. He excercised an opt-out clause, meaning he won’t be able to re-sign with the Reds this year, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic notes.

For the Reds and Dietrich, this ends what was briefly a very fruitful relationship. The former Marlin signed a minors pact with the Reds heading into 2019, earned a roster spot and then went into the summer as one of the game’s hottest hitters. Dietrich posted a ridiculous .304/.400/.841 line with 12 home runs in just 80 plate appearances in May, but his production cratered after that. He finished the season a .187/.328/.462 hitter with 19 homers in 341 PA, though that line was still 2 percent better than league average, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

The 31-year-old Dietrich, to his credit, has consistently been a better-than-average offensive player since his career started in 2013. He owns a lifetime triple-slash of .246/.334/.427 (108 wRC+) with 79 HRs in 2,438 trips to the plate, though most of the lefty-swinger’s damage has come against righties. Defensively, Dietrich has garnered extensive experience at several positions (first, second, third and left). While Dietrich hasn’t graded particularly well at any of those spots, his versatility in the field and history of respectable offense should enable him to catch on elsewhere.

Reds Designate Scott Schebler For Assignment, Add Brooks Raley To 40-Man Roster

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The Reds have added left-handed pitcher Brooks Raley to the 40-man roster and have designated outfielder Scott Schebler for assignment, as reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Schebler, a mainstay on Reds teams of 2017 and 2018, has seen himself swiftly fall out of favor with the club as it collects a new crop of young outfielders. Jesse Winker, Phil Ervin, Nick Senzel, and Aristides Aquino have overtaken Schebler for playing time, and new arrivals Nicholas Castellanos and Shogo Akiyama only further cut into Schebler’s role.

Last year was a disaster for the 29-year-old Schebler, who limped to a .123/.253/.222 batting line, albeit in just 95 plate appearances. In the two years prior, however, Schebler was a different player, even reaching the 30-homer benchmark in 2017. From 2017-2018, he notched a .785 OPS while playing all three outfield positions on a consistent basis. That’s a player who can provide some value for a team, and teams with a thin outfield mix should have some interest in Schebler, who must either be traded or exposed to the other 29 teams via waivers in the next 7 days. Should he pass through waivers, he may then be released or assigned outright to the minors. That’s not a given, though, and he may be worth a claim as a depth outfielder.

Raley, meanwhile, is a particularly interesting case: the 32-year-old southpaw hasn’t appeared in a Major League game since 2013, when he was with the Cubs. After a stint in the Angels’ and Twins’ minor league systems, he commuted to South Korea, where he’s played in the KBO since 2015.

He’s getting a chance with the Reds this year as a non-roster invitee, and now he’s parlayed that into a spot on the 40-man roster. Nothing is certain, but there’s a decent chance he cracks Cincinnati’s Opening Day 30, joining a bullpen that will be key to the Reds’ performance this year. There’s no question that the rotation can be up there with the best in the National League, but the bullpen will need to collectively improve if they’re to compete in the Central division.

In five seasons with the KBO’s Lotte Giants, Raley threw 910 2/3 innings, making at least 30 starts every year. He struck out a total of 755 batters and posted a 4.13 ERA. Last year was his best in terms of home run prevention, but he also surrendered more walks than ever.

Nate Jones Makes Reds’ Opening Day Roster

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Right-hander Nate Jones has been told he will make the Reds’ 30-man roster on Opening Day, as reported by multiple sources (including The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans).  Once Jones’ minor league contract is officially selected by the team, he will lock in the prorated portion of a $1.5MM salary for the season.  Another $1MM in incentives was originally available in Jones’ deal, and he’ll now aim for the prorated version of those bonuses as well.

Simply staying on the field for the entire season (even an abbreviated season) might count as enough of a bonus for Jones, given all of the injury problems he had faced throughout his career.  Apart from a season of 70 2/3 innings in 2016, Jones hasn’t cracked even the 30-inning threshold since 2013, including a campaign of just 10 1/3 frames for the White Sox in 2019 before forearm surgery prematurely ended his year.

However, Jones has shown excellent form when healthy, with a career 3.12 ERA, 2.89 K/BB rate, and 9.8 K/9 over 291 1/3 innings.  All of that work has come in a White Sox uniform, though Jones was dealt to Texas last summer as part of a trade that also saw the Rangers acquire $1MM in international spending funds.  Now in his age-34 season, Jones is hoping to contribute to an intriguing Reds bullpen that also includes such names as Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett, and Robert Stephenson.

Reds Add Derek Dietrich To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Reds have added utilityman Derek Dietrich to their 60-man player pool, per a team announcement. He’ll report to their satellite location at Prasco Park. Dietrich told reporters he tested positive for coronavirus, necessitating the waiting period.

Dietrich had been with the organization this spring as a minor-league invitee. He carried a .174/.259/.478 slash line with two long balls in 27 plate appearances of Cactus League action.

Since he’s not slated to work out initially with the team’s anticipated active roster players, it seems rather unlikely that Dietrich has a shot at earning a MLB job to open the year. But the seven-year veteran, who’ll soon turn 31, would be on call if a need arises during the season. In 2,438 career plate appearances at the game’s highest level, he carries a .246/.334/.427 batting line.

Reds Sign Draft Pick Jackson Miller

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8:12PM: Miller will receive a $1.29MM bonus, as per Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (Twitter link).  This puts the Reds just under their bonus pool limit with $6,100 to spare.

6:02PM: The Reds have completed their draft signings by reaching an agreement with 65th overall pick Jackson Miller.  The 18-year-old catcher announced the news himself on his Twitter feed.

Terms of the deal aren’t yet known, though the 65th overall pick comes with a slot value of $1,025,100.  Since the Reds have already signed five of the other six members of their draft class, they have plenty of room remaining ($1,296,100) in their $8,552,100 draft pool to give Miller an above-slot bonus.  Cincinnati could even offer more than that $1,296,100 figure if the team doesn’t mind paying a 75 percent tax on the overage for exceeding the draft pool limit, though topping the pool by more than five percent would be penalized with the loss of a future first-round pick.

The Athletic’s Keith Law described Miller as having “an advanced feel to hit,” albeit without yet much power in his left-handed swing.  Law ranked Miller 62nd on his list of 2020 draft prospects, with other pundits like Baseball America (99th), MLB Pipline (104th), and Fangraphs (123rd) not being quite as high on the 18-year-old.  As a catcher, the scouting reports noted some room for improvement, but plenty of promise for Miller to become at least an average defensive backstop.  Miller had committed to Wake Forest, but he’ll now begin his pro career as the Reds’ potential catcher of the future.

Devin Mesoraco Joins University Of Pittsburgh Coaching Staff

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Devin Mesoraco has joined the University of Pittsburgh baseball team as a volunteer assistant, per Kendall Rogers of d1baseball.com. Presumably, this means the former catcher’s playing days are done.

Mesoraco came highly-touted to the majors, from his selection at number fifteen overall in the 2007 draft, to his years as a top prospect in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization. He made his debut with the Reds in 2011 at the age of 23. Though he struggled over an 18-game sample, that did nothing to lessen the excitement over their presumed catcher of the future.

Before the start of the following season, Mesoraco was named the Reds’ number one prospect by Baseball America and a consensus top prospect in baseball. Baseball America had him as the #16 overall prospect in baseball prior to 2012 and Fangraphs had him at #15. Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus was slightly less bullish, but even he put Mesoraco at #24.

It was a tough era to be a top catching prospect, however (Jesus Montero, Travis d’Arnaud, Yasmani Grandal, Gary Sanchez, Wilin Rosario, Austin Hedges, Ryan Lavarnway, and Derek Norris were some of the other highly-regarded catching prospects). By the time Mesoraco was set to take over behind the plate in Cincinnati, he’d already suffered through a number of ticky-tack injuries. A high-character player, hopes were still high that he’d develop into a franchise catcher.

Though he didn’t quite reach those heights, he put together respectable major league career that lasted 8 seasons – all but the final 66 games taking place in Cincinnati. He largely struggled at the dish, but it all came together for a 26-year-old Mesoraco in 2014. That season, he appeared in 114 games and hit .273/.359/.534 with 25 home runs and 80 RBIs, making his lone All-Star appearance.

Injuries continued to play a part in Mesoraco’s career, however, and he only twice appeared in more than 100 games. In May of 2018 – his final season – the Reds traded Mesoraco to the Mets for another battered former top prospect in Matt Harvey. He did a nice job finishing that season for the Mets, hitting .222/.306/.409 with 10 long balls. If indeed this is it for Mesoraco, he’ll finish with a .232/.309/.406 line and 58 home runs, totaling 4.6 rWAR.

NL Central Notes: Cubs, Castellanos, Holt

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The Cubs were among the many teams experiencing delays in COVID-19 testing, as today’s results from this weekend’s batch of tests were late to arrive, writes Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times. The delay proved to be brief, and general manager Jed Hoyer told the media this afternoon that all of the team’s tests came back negative. That’s obviously good news for the organization, though they’ll need to continue with caution and Hoyer acknowledged that they’ll likely be faced with positive results at some point.

With that in mind, Hoyer understandably opted not to discuss the possibility of extensions for core players or any trade that might eventually be on the horizon (Twitter link via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune). “At this point, our focus is on making sure this season is operating effectively,” Hoyer said. The Cubs have a number of potential extension candidates — Javier Baez and Kris Bryant among them — and could very arguably use some rotation help following Jose Quintana’s injury. There are obviously more pressing issues for the Cubs and other teams at the moment as they prioritize health-and-safety protocols in the buildup to this year’s shortened season.

More from the NL Central…

  • The designated hitter will be implemented in the National League for at least the 2020 season, but Reds slugger Nicholas Castellanos made clear this week that he hopes to remain in the outfield on a regular basis rather than serve a a primary DH (link via John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer). “I don’t want to DH,” Castellanos plainly stated. “…I like being in National League where I get to play defense every day. A goal of mine is to become a better and better defender every year that I play – every game that I play is probably a more appropriate answer.” Castellanos went on to note that he’d of course play wherever skipper David Bell asked him to on a given day, and he spoke optimistically about the Reds’ chances in 2020. At least occasional time at DH seems likely for Castellanos and others, though; the Reds have him, Jesse Winker, Nick Senzel, Shogo Akiyama, Aristides Aquino, Phil Ervin and Scott Schebler all in the mix for outfield reps.
  • Brewers infielder Brock Holt tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that like many other players, he’s not particularly comfortable playing in 2020. However, Holt also feels that given his contractual status — he’s on a one-year deal after facing a surprisingly tepid market in free agency this past winter — he has little choice but to suit up if he hopes to continue playing. “If I didn’t play, it would be hard for me to find a job next year,” says Holt, who is making the difficult decision to leave his pregnant wife and child in Texas for three months rather than bring them to Milwaukee. “…If I was in a different situation contractually, it’s definitely something I would have considered with my wife being pregnant.”

NL Notes: Camp Delays, Dodgers, Cardinals, Gallegos, Health Updates, Senzel, Hamels

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Expect delayed arrivals to camp to become somewhat of a recurring story early in training camp as players attempt to clear the many hurdles to return to play. The Dodgers, for instance, will be missing a few players at the start of camp, though manager Dave Roberts wasn’t able to name specific players, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Likewise, the Cardinals will be missing reliever Giovanny Gallegos, who is delayed in his return from Mexico, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Cardinals have not given a specific reason for his delay, per The Athletic’s Mark Saxon. Rather than speculate on reasons for the holdup, let’s check in on some health updates from around the league…

  • Nick Senzel’s had a banged-up rookie season, appearing in 104 games with a .256/.315/.427 slash – but he’s ready to go for his sophomore campaign. His first season ended early when a torn labrum required Senzel to get shoulder surgery. That injury is fully recovered now, but only just now, as Senzel reported having throwing pain as recently as a month ago, per Bobby Nightengale of The Enquirer. Senzel may not have a steady defensive home when play begins, but he figures to be an everyday presence in the Reds’ lineup regardless, especially with the DH now in play.
  • Cole Hamels was never going to get a full Spring Training, not once a shoulder injury took him out of commission for a few months. The 36-year-old knows that the four-week leadup to the newly-rebooted 2020 season isn’t exactly the same, not at his age, but he plans to be ready to contribute, per Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Said Hamels: “It’s not as if I’m going to go out there expecting to pitch seven to nine innings. There’s going to be a gradual buildup process, and there’s going to be guys who will be able to piggyback on you, like in a high school or a college season. All that really matters is putting up zeroes. If you can put up two or put up five zeroes, that’s really helping the team, more so than (other pitchers) having to pick up and try to eat a lot of innings.” 
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