By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds right fielder Austin Kearns walks to the batting cage at training camp Thursday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

SARASOTA, Fla. - It's too early to say if the switch is a success, but Aaron Boone thinks he's going to be OK at second base.

Make that better than OK.

"When we talked about going over there, I said I didn't want to do it to fill a hole or be an average second baseman," Boone said. "I wanted to be a good second baseman."

So far, so good.

"It's going really well, better than I expected," Boone said. "As far as taking groundballs, making the pivot and taking throws from the shortstop, I've been surprised by how natural it feels."

Boone's brother, Seattle Mariners Gold Glove second baseman Bret, worked with him for three days before heading to Arizona for camp.

"Obviously, that really helped," Aaron said.

ALL SET? If Boone makes the transition to second seamlessly, the Reds are pretty much set in their starting eight.

Brandon Larson will take over at third. On paper, that's the only open spot.

But manager Bob Boone has said since the Reds traded for Felipe Lopez on Dec. 15 that the best players will play. That might mean Lopez getting some of shortstop Barry Larkin's time.

"Somebody always surprises you," Boone said. "You think you know what you have. But we're going to look at everything."

Larkin turns 39 on April 28 and is coming off a year in which he hit .245.

But it would be an upset if Lopez unseated Larkin. Lopez, 22, hit .227 with 90 strikeouts in 282 at-bats with the Toronto Blue Jays last year.

BRANYAN UPDATE: Russell Branyan was among the early arrivals at Reds camp.

Branyan underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder Dec. 3.

"It's improved a lot over the last two or three days," Branyan said. "But I'm still two or three months from being 100 percent."

The shoulder has troubled Branyan since he had surgery on it in 1996.

"I've had pain ever since," Branyan said. "It got worse this past year. It was so bad in winter ball that I couldn't swing the bat."

ALL BUT ONE: The Reds expected all but one of the 33 pitchers invited to camp to report by midnight Thursday.

Luke Prokopec had to attend the funeral of a family member. He's expected to arrive next week.

ADD ONE: Jose Rosado, a former Kansas City Royal, is one of 14 non-roster pitchers in camp. The Reds quietly signed him to a minor-league contract two weeks ago.

Rosado, a 28-year-old left-hander, hasn't pitched in the big leagues since early in 2000. Since then, he's had three surgeries and two failed comebacks.

He was 2-2 with a 5.86 ERA in five starts for the Royals.

Rosado is one of seven non-roster left-handers the Reds have in camp.

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com