CINCINNATI -- There are few secrets in Major League Baseball these days, with teams generating gigabytes of video and advance scouting data. But if there was any insider info to be had as the Brewers began their first regular season series opposite the Reds’ new pitching coach, you can bet that Derek Johnson had it.

Johnson departed the Brewers’ coaching staff last fall after three seasons to take the same job with better pay in Cincinnati, where he finds himself closer to his Nashville home. He brought to the Reds a deep knowledge of a division rival.

“Yeah, but I think the other side of that is you spend so much time working on other teams,” said Johnson. “You do pick up tendencies of your own team, but I spent a lot of time just trying to figure out the Pirates or the Cubs or the Cardinals or the Reds or whoever. Hopefully, I can help. I don’t know if I can or not.”

He described his surprise move as, “a business decision in some ways. It was a situation that could help my family. It would be just like any other player or a player doing it. I love the Brewers. I had a great experience there. I love Craig Counsell. I love ‘Murph’ [bench coach Pat Murphy]. I love all the guys on the team, and the management treated me very fairly. But this was an opportunity for me to better myself and my situation for my family, and I’ve got to take that.”

Johnson will help the Reds take a step forward after the team invested in pitching over the winter, acquiring Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. He left behind a Brewers team skewing young in its starting rotation, which featured 22-year-old Freddy Peralta, 24-year-old Corbin Burnes and 26-year-old Brandon Woodruff to begin the season.

Only Peralta is scheduled to catch the Reds this time. He is lined up for Wednesday’s series finale.

“It’s great. All three are well-deserved,” Johnson said. “‘Woody’ and Corbin threw so well out of the bullpen for us last year and Freddy showed at times like he was going to be a real big leaguer -- I mean a guy that may be a top-of-the-rotation type of guy. It’s a great thing. Obviously, they’ve done OK so far. They’ll get a few more starts under their belt and try to figure it out. It’s a good opportunity for them.”

Would Johnson share any secrets about red-hot reigning MVP Christian Yelich?

“He had four home runs on the weekend, so that’s one piece of information I’m definitely going to talk about,” Johnson said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “He’s just such a good hitter that we have our work cut out for us, for sure.”

Affiliates set rosters

The Brewers’ four full-season Minor League clubs released preliminary rosters on Monday, including a Class-A Wisconsin team that will play a regular season game at Miller Park on April 12. The Timber Rattlers’ initial roster features five of MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Milwaukee prospects: Brice Turang (No. 3), Aaron Ashby (9), Pablo Abreu (20), Je'Von Ward (23), and Adam Hill (27).

The team has played at Miller Park plenty of times before, but this year’s contest is earlier on the schedule to ensure a good-weather game under the dome. Ticket information is at Brewers.com/TimberRattlers.

Here’s a rundown of where the Top 30 landed:

Triple-A San Antonio

IF Keston Hiura (1)

OF Corey Ray (2)

IF Mauricio Dubon (5)

RHP Zack Brown (6)

IF Lucas Erceg (8)

OF Troy Stokes Jr. (13)

RHP Adrian Houser (15)

C Jacob Nottingham (16)

OF Tyrone Taylor (29)

Double-A Biloxi

RHP Trey Supak (11)

RHP Braden Webb (12)

RHP Marcos Diplan (17)

OF Trent Grisham (30)

Advanced Class A Carolina

OF Tristen Lutz (4)

C Payton Henry (10)

C Mario Feliciano (14)

Class A Wisconsin

IF Brice Turang (3)

LHP Aaron Ashby (9)

OF Pablo Abreu (20)

OF Je’Von Ward (23)

RHP Adam Hill (27)

Yet to be assigned

OF Joe Gray (7)

OF Carlos Rodriguez (18)

IF Eduardo Garcia (19)

OF Micah Bello (21)

OF Eduarqui Fernandez (22)

OF Larry Ernesto (24)

RHP Caden Lemons (25)

IF Jake Gatewood (28)

Injured

RHP Bobby Wahl (26)

Wahl is on the Major League injured list following ACL surgery and is likely to miss the season. Gatewood is coming back from ACL surgery last year and will be assigned to an affiliate when he is ready.

One other notable player landed on the San Antonio roster: Right-hander Jimmy Nelson, who missed all of last season following shoulder surgery.