Last season, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen told the coaching staff that he’d like to pitch in all 60 games out of the bullpen.
This year’s plan is a little more complicated.
Lorenzen wants to spend the entire season in the starting rotation and throw 180 innings. He wants to contribute as a pinch-hitter, a pinch-runner and a center fielder. And he wants to appear in at least three out of every five games.
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“I’ve always said (that) me starting is what enables me to maximize those other tools,” Lorenzen said. “People always try to tell me otherwise and I always tell them, ‘you’re not the one doing it.’ I see it every day. I know what goes into the game planning and how complicated it is. Honestly, it just gives (manager) David (Bell) and the coaching staff a way easier game plan to manage.”
Lorenzen is the leading candidate to claim the fifth spot in the Reds starting rotation. He has started 26 games for Cincinnati, and Lorenzen posted a 1.91 ERA over the six last weeks of the 2020 season as a long reliever and a starting pitcher.
When the short-handed Reds needed a spot starter during the playoff race on Sept. 15 and 20, manager David Bell turned to Lorenzen as the starting pitcher, and Cincinnati won both games.
“I feel like the skill that I’ve needed to develop throughout the years because of pitching being relatively new to me, I feel like I’ve developed that skill that I need,” Lorenzen said. “I know my strengths. I know who I am as a pitcher now. It takes time. It takes experience. No matter how much you try to rush it and try to learn as quickly as you can, experience really means everything. I have a ton of experience under my belt.”
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Lorenzen envisions taking off the day after he starts, but he said that’s enough rest for him. He added that the coaching staff could determine whether or not he’s used the day before he starts, but Lorenzen said he’d be willing to play on that day, too.
With the designated hitter in the National League last season, Lorenzen had only one at-bat and played four innings in center field. But in 132 career at-bats, Lorenzen has a .716 OPS, which was better than Cincinnati’s OPS in 2020. He also played 89 innings in the outfield in 2019.
“When you look at Michael Lorenzen, maybe more than anybody else in the game, there is the added element that he brings to the game,” Bell said. “I do believe that can be taken advantage of more as a starter.”
Looking at the Reds plan at catcher
Cincinnati catcher Tucker Barnhart won the 2020 NL Gold Glove Award. He still says he did “a lot of soul searching” during this offseason.
His focus was improving as a left-handed hitter against left-handed pitchers.
“I had a really productive offseason,” Barnhart said. “Did a lot of work, left on left, but it’s nothing like just real at-bats in the box against Major League pitchers. I continue to work every day doing the things that I did in the offseason to make sure that I do get that extra work.”
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One ramification of the shortened 2020 regular season was that Barnhart didn’t start a single game against a left-handed pitcher during the 60-game sprint. And since 2020 Spring Training was cut short, Barnhart couldn’t work before the season to improve against left-handed pitching.
Barnhart, who was a switch hitter through the end of the 2019 season, has one hit in 26 career plate appearances as a left-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher.
This season, Barnhart is expected to share time at catcher with rising prospect Tyler Stephenson, a right-handed hitter who made some appearances as the designated hitter in 2020 against left-handed pitchers.
Bell said he hopes to give Barnhart more opportunities against left-handed pitchers this season, and the starting catcher this year won’t be a true platoon depending on the opposing starting pitcher.
“I think that the easy way to look at it would be (Stephenson) would play against the left-handers,” Bell said. “But I know (Barnhart) doesn’t want to accept that he’s not going to face left-handers either… It’ll work itself out. They’re both going to play a lot.”
Luis Castillo getting closer to camp
As of Saturday, two Reds pitchers had not yet reported to Spring Training. That includes starting pitcher Luis Castillo, but Castillo is expected to be at Spring Training on Sunday.
The Reds are still waiting on pitcher Bo Takahashi, a non-roster invitee, who is traveling from Brazil.
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