Notes: Raisel focused; GABP special to Jones

CINCINNATI -- If anybody on the Reds understands what it’s like to play professionally in a short season, it would be closer Raisel Iglesias.

To accommodate Cuba’s participation in the World Baseball Classic in 2013, Iglesias’ final season before defecting, the nation’s professional league played 45 games instead of its usual 90. Major League Baseball teams are preparing for a 60-game regular season in 2020.

“There’s a huge difference. Obviously for a season of 162 games, you have to really control yourself and make sure you’re healthy enough for the rest of the season,” Iglesias said Saturday via translator Jorge Merlos. “Really for a 45- or 60-game season, you have to treat every game like it’s a playoff game, and that’s what we really did when I played in Cuba.”

Iglesias, 30, is seeking a turnaround from an often rough 2019 season with Cincinnati. Although he set career highs with 68 appearances and 34 saves, he was 3-12 with a 4.16 ERA and established a franchise record for losses by a reliever. That contrasted the 2.38 ERA with 30 saves in 66 games in ’18.

“It’s important to me to be in my prime form,” Iglesias said. “Last year, I went through some ups and downs. The fans saw it as well. It’s on me this year to turn that around and reverse that and really go out there and perform my best.”

Iglesias kept throwing with his brother, a former catcher, during the 3 1/2-month quarantine period. But he didn’t work off a mound at all. It made his 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Friday’s scrimmage at Great American Ball Park all the more enjoyable.

“Going out there on the mound was what I needed,” he said. “I really had good control. I was able to work on all of my pitches and really work on the location. It was the kind of day that Cincinnati Reds fans would say, ‘Oh yeah, this is back-to-normal Raisel. This is what everybody comes out to see.’”

What won’t be normal this season is Iglesias entering a tense ninth-inning save situation with no noise inside an empty ballpark without fans. His time to pitch is often when the crowd is at its loudest.

“It will be something we have to get used to,” Iglesias said. “I think it gives me an opportunity to have a little more focus out there going in for the ninth.”

GABP special for Jones
Reds non-roster reliever Nate Jones -- a Northern Kentucky native -- really enjoyed his first scrimmage game at GABP on Wednesday.

“Growing up and coming to the ballpark a handful of times and just sitting in the stands, just wanting to play baseball, and then standing on the mound [not too far away from] where I was sitting in the stands ... and actually pitching to Joey Votto, it doesn't get any better than that,” Jones said on Saturday. “It’s a pretty surreal feeling. It was nothing less than awesome, that’s for sure.”

Jones pitched a scoreless inning with one walk and one strikeout. It was Votto who walked.

“I did get him to swing at one ball,” Jones said. “That’s an accomplishment in itself, but I did walk him. He’s pretty good at the strike zone.”

Jones kept his arm in shape by throwing inside his barn near his house in Butler, Ky. He built his own mound with help from his father, Bill.

“We built it out of 2x10s, some plywood, put some Astroturf on top of it,” Jones said. “That’s how I got by with the throwing program.”

During Spring Training, Jones worked three innings in three games and looked good.

“All along, we've talked about if he's healthy, he can absolutely help us,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He's not a comfortable at-bat, the delivery, the angle, it does not look fun. He has tools for both sides of the plate, but I could see why he's been so good.”

From catcher to heckler
As his teammates played Saturday’s scrimmage, catcher Tucker Barnhart had the game off. Barnhart took in part of it from a last-row seat behind third base and brought a megaphone.

“Get in the box,” Barnhart told Jesse Winker before his first at-bat in the second inning.

Later, Barnhart let the umpire -- one of the coaches -- know he didn’t like a strike call.

“Call it both ways, blue,” Barnhart said.

Later in the second inning when Francisco Peña hit a two-run homer to left field for the home team against Trevor Bauer, Barnhart played the megaphone’s siren as Peña circled the bases.

When an arriving thunderstorm stopped the scheduled 5 1/2-inning scrimmage after four frames, Barnhart announced the ending.

“The game is over,” he said after a 3-0 home win over the visitors.

Reds have signed all 2020 Draft picks
The Reds announced Saturday that they signed Competitive Balance Round B selection Jackson Miller, a catcher from J.W. Mitchell High School in Florida. That meant the organization signed all six of its picks from last month.