Iglesias appears ready for rehab assignment
NEW YORK -- Reds rookie starting pitcher Raisel Iglesias threw in the bullpen on Saturday and appears ready to begin a Minor League rehab assignment. Iglesias has been on the disabled list since June 5 with a strained left oblique muscle.
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"That was his third bullpen. I don't think he has anything else to prove throwing on the side," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "His next outing is sometime early next week in a game. It will take two or three outings probably to build him back up to start."
Iglesias threw 45 pitches in the bullpen at Citi Field. He said it was "good."
The most likely spot for Iglesias to pitch is Triple-A Louisville, which returns home for a five-game stretch next week.
"He looks normal. He looks strong," Price said. "No apprehension, very aggressive. He's ready to go out and pitch here in the next few days in a rehab, and get him built back up."
The Reds are hoping to have Iglesias activated before the All-Star break. He is 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA in six games, including four starts.
Other items of note
• Billy Hamilton was given a day off from the lineup and Price shifted left fielder Marlon Byrd to start in center field. It was the first time Byrd played center field since 2013, when he played two games there for the Mets.
"Without having Kristopher Negron, because he's getting some at-bats in Triple-A, I think Marlon fits the bill," Price said. "I spoke with him last night about it. He's champing at the bit. He's played the position quite a bit in his history. Just like going back to left field [this season] , he said 'I came up as left fielder, I know the position. I will get re-acquainted with it.' So I don't have any apprehension. I'm not going to say it's like riding a bicycle, but it's like riding a bicycle."
• Shortstop Eugenio Suarez has four errors in his 13 games this season, all over the previous four games, including one on Friday. Ivan De Jesus Jr. started at shortstop on Saturday, but Price still has confidence in Suarez.
"You don't want it to become something he concerns himself with on the field," Price said of the errors. "You want all your players to want to have the ball hit to them. We've had a couple of those situations where following the error, we weren't able to get the last out until after some runs had scored. I know that that's very personal for defenders. We've got to be able to pick him up. He's going to pick us up a lot defensively on the infield, so we've got to do a better job of picking him up if he makes a mistake. We do know about him, we know he's a good player and a good defender. It's not anything that's of grave concern."