Saturday, February 26, 2000
REDS NOTEBOOK
Time for pitchers to get serious
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SARASOTA, Fla. — The loosening-up period has ended for the Reds' pitchers. Serious evaluations will soon begin — though as everybody knows, only two openings exist on the staff.
Through a week of workouts, Mark Portugal remains the unspoken but clear-cut favorite to secure the No.5 starting role. The last spot in the bullpen remains wide-open.
“They're still not where you're going to be able to grade or evaluate them,” manager Jack McKeon said Friday. “That might take another week or so.”
Said pitching coach Don Gullett, “I think the next couple, three times on the mound, in batting practice and the intrasquad games, we'll be able to see guys accelerate even further.”
Next Friday's start of the exhibition season will simplify judgments even more. “The adrenaline flows a little better and there's a little more intensity,” McKeon said. “Pitchers throw better — whether they get hitters out or not — in direct competition.”
Gullett said he'll try to use each able-bodied pitcher for one inning during the intrasquad games next Wednesday and Thursday. That should fit mathematically, because the Reds have 34 healthy pitchers to use for as many as 36 half-innings.
PERSISTENT POKEY: A noontime rally in downtown Sarasota forced the Reds to shorten their workout. But that didn't stop Pokey Reese from trying to refine his skills.
After the rally, the team returned to its headquarters at the Sarasota Sports Com plex. Most players went home. But Reese, last year's Gold Glove-winning second baseman, asked coach Harry Dunlop to hit him dozens of ground balls. Reese used a smaller glove than usual to sharpen his technique. Once the private session ended, Reese carried the bucket of balls inside himself.
“That's why he's as great as he is,” Dunlop said. “He wants to be the best, period. The good ones — you don't have to go get them (for extra work). They go get you.”
LIVE DEMONSTRATION: During the workout, Reese and shortstop Barry Larkin honed their double-play expertise as some of Cincinnati's best hitters took batting practice. It helped that reliever Danny Graves, whose sinking fastball coaxes ground balls, was pitching.
Ken Griffey Jr., Eddie Taubensee and Dmitri Young hit occasional line drives, but mostly they tapped harmless bouncers toward Larkin or Reese.
“That's why I try to take more balls off the bat than the fungo (the skinny practice bat coaches use),” Reese said. “You get a truer hop off the bat.”
“That's my bread and butter,” Graves said of his sinker. “If I can throw it during the season like I did today — with a little more velocity when that time comes — I'll be happy. I asked Pokey if they got enough work out there today. But that's what I'm supposed to do. I was trying to groove it in there for them to hit, but my natural pitch is a sinker.”
In fact, Graves said he struggles to throw a straight or rising fastball, known as a “four-seamer.”
“When I throw one, I don't know if it's going to rise, cut or still sink,” he said. “The only time I throw a four-seamer is when I'm throwing to first base. It's weird. Everything I throw is just naturally going to sink.”
BATTING-CAGE BANTER: Griffey Jr., after flailing at and missing a Graves sinker: “Just like my dad.”
Bench coach Ken Griffey Sr., who was watching: “I at least hit it on the ground and ran like hell.”
Griffey Jr.: “I hit it in the air and jog.” (Translation: A home run.)
ETC.: A crowd estimated at 2,500 attended the Reds' noon rally, which was attended by every player.
• Outfielder Deion Sanders videotaped a public-service announcement for Feed The Children, a non-profit organization.
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