Jesse Winker has collected signs from fans throughout the season. He received a couple outside of the stadium at the beginning of the year and several more for his daughter.
When the Reds played the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of their last homestand in July, a young girl sitting with her father in left field made a sign for Winker. He asked for it midway through the game as she dropped it into the field and he carried it back to his locker, trading a ball for the sign.
Then in the first game in New York against the Mets last week, Winker saw an “awesome” sign. It may have contained a word not suitable for a family newspaper, but it made Winker laugh and it turned into a viral moment. Winker sent the fan a signed baseball that read, “Loved the sign! I’m collecting them this year. Thanks for coming out to the game. Happy fans are back!”
“I was thinking about, during the game, ‘man, I’m going to frame that sign. I’m going to put it in my house,’” Winker said. “Then throughout the game, I was thinking what color frame would look good around the picture. I didn’t know if doing Mets blue or Mets orange or just a typical black frame would look good.”
When Winker asked for the sign, the fan didn’t hear him. Once he gave the fan the signed ball, Winker heard the sign was taken by a security guard and potentially ripped up.
“I was trying to tell him, ‘drop your sign because I want it,’” Winker said. “I don’t think they could hear me or understand what I was trying to say. I think they thought I was talking (smack) to them or something because they couldn’t hear me. I was trying to tell them to drop the sign and that crowd there is so loud they weren’t listening to me.
“People say they’re a hostile crowd, but I just think they’re a very passionate bunch. I just think it’s all a part of New York, a part of baseball there and I think it’s fun. I’m glad overall it was a positive reaction.”
It became a viral moment when SNY played a clip of the signed baseball exchange on the following night’s broadcast. Winker has an array of signs in his locker, including a sign of pictures from a fan in Arizona, a “thank you” card from Liam Castellanos after giving him a birthday gift, a sign from his daughter’s daycare and a sign from Tatum Barnhart.
“I really wanted that sign in New York, though,” Winker said. “Maybe that kid can remake the sign and send it over here for me. Maybe he could do that because I wanted to frame it and put it in my game room or something at home in Florida.
“Obviously, I can’t collect every sign, but it was something I was glad there was a cool response about it because it was just good fun. The kid was very appreciative of the ball and very respectful. It was good.”
STEP FORWARD: Nick Castellanos took batting practice against third-base coach J.R. House before Tuesday’s game for about 20 minutes.
“(House) can simulate Major League pitching as well as any coach I know,” Reds manager David Bell said Tuesday afternoon, “and see how that goes today and go from there.”
Castellanos sprayed home runs into the Great American Ball Park stands, giving House a fist bump at the end of their batting practice session. Castellanos shagged balls in the outfield during pitcher’s batting practice, giving him a chance to take live reads off swings.
TOP PROSPECT PROMOTED: Left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo, the Reds’ first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, was promoted to Triple-A Louisville on Monday.
Lodolo, a 23-year-old out of TCU, had a 1.84 ERA in 10 starts at Double-A Chattanooga this year with 68 strikeouts and nine walks across 44 innings. He represented the Reds at the Futures Game last month along with shortstop Jose Barrero.
He likely would have earned a promotion earlier this year, but he was sidelined for about a month with a blister on the pointer finger of his pitching hand.
INJURY UPDATES: Lucas Sims played catch at Great American Ball Park before Tuesday's game after making a couple of appearances on his rehab assignment. Mike Moustakas and Nick Senzel remain with Louisville's team in St. Paul this week.
"They’re all progressing well, which is the most important thing," Bell said. "But no timetable. I think it’s important to keep it that way and we’ll come in one of these days and they’ll either be here or on their way. But still kind of on track to get at least a couple of those guys back within the next week, for sure."
Tejay Antone has yet to reach the rehab assignment phase, still throwing bullpens while traveling with the big-league club.
"I don’t expect Tejay to be back with us in the same time frame as the other guys that are there now," Bell said. "He does have to go do a rehab assignment, get some outings in, and I would expect that he would be back – if everything goes well – with our team by the end of the month."
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