With Spring Training underway, Reds have high hopes, with talented young squad
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Major League Baseball spring training has been ongoing for over a week now, and the Cincinnati Reds have very high hopes for this upcoming season!
MLB Opening Day is just 25 days away, on March 28, although, technically, the season starts on March 20, because the Dodgers and Padres play a two-game series in South Korea. However, the Reds season begins on the 28th, along with all the rest of the teams, and there’s a lot of excitement around this year’s club, because last year’s team went 82-80, just missing out on the playoffs.
Moreover, those 82 wins, were a 20-win improvement, from the year before. This Reds team is chock-full of young talent, that was mostly, all called up last year. Guys like Elly De la Cruz, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all made an immediate impact, and now they hope to take another step forward.
It’s continuing to see these players improve. We’ve got a lot of young players. We had three or four 21 year old players on our team last year. Just getting a little more maturity, getting a little bit of experience in the big leagues, just continuing to progress,” said Reds’ president of baseball operations, Nick Krall. “We wanna build sustained winning here. It’s not just make the playoffs, go deep in the playoffs, and win the world series. We wanna do the best we can, and continue to improve and get to that point.”
“A lot of these guys have been talked about for years, and now we’re kind of seeing all that magic start to put itself to fruition in the lineup and starting rotation,” said Reds’ broadcaster and former pitcher, Jeff Brantley. “Now, the biggest issue is how are they going to adjust as the league adjusts to them. Because let me tell you something, when you play in the big leagues, they’re not going to pitch you the same way like they did last year. The young guys are going to have to still earn it. They’re going to have to still be able to go out and make adjustments.”
One big pitching acquisition for the Reds, was the addition of starter Frankie Montas, who will help to bolster their young starting rotation.
