Photo: Doug Gray
It has been a bit of a wild ride for the Cincinnati Reds roster over the last 24 hours. Last night during the radio broadcast of the Reds vs Reds Prospects game in Dayton it was revealed that Austin Hays was dealing with a calf injury. That injury is proving to be pivotal to the Reds opening day roster. Mark Sheldon of Reds.com reports that Hays will be heading to the injured list to begin the season. That has led to Spencer Steer beginning the season on the active roster where he will only serve as the designated hitter for now. But those weren’t the only news, it seems that both Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn have made the roster and that Stuart Fairchild will be designated for assignment.
Steer was initially expected to begin the season on the injured list given his lack of live game at-bats after getting a cortisone shot in his shoulder early on in spring training. In fact, until last night in Dayton he had not had an in-game at-bat during spring training since late February when he went 1-7 over the first three games he played in. Hitting has not been much of an issue with regards to the shoulder impingement that Steer has been dealing with, but it has kept him out of the field because the throwing motion was an issue. While he has started throwing again, he’s not ready to play in the field yet during games.
Austin Hays starting the year on the injured list may be a bit of a blow to the middle of the order. While getting Steer back helps soften that blow a little bit, a healthy Hays has been a quality hitter who hit .310/.370/.690 this spring in 16 games.
Big springs to both Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn seemed to get them jobs in Cincinnati to begin the year. Dunn had been hitting the ball hard all spring and it showed as he hit .340/.404/.574 with six extra-base hits in 47 at-bats. Hurtubise started out on fire, but did cool off slightly towards the end of March. Still, he hit .289/.449/.474 with five extra-base hits, five steals, nine walks, and just seven strikeouts in 38 at-bats. Blake Dunn is about as fast as Elly De La Cruz is. Jacob Hurtubise is about a step slower than they are. Their addition to the roster gives the Reds a lot of speed coming off of the bench.
One of those guys is going to be taking the spot of Stuart Fairchild. The 4-year big league veteran has spent parts of the last three seasons with the Reds. This spring, though, he really struggled. In 21 games he managed to hit just .132/.233/.184. That simply wasn’t good enough, and while he’s been a solid 4th/5th outfielder in the past, that didn’t carry enough weight given what the two guys above have shown this spring.
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