A hippo has been spotted at Reds camp. No, it wasn’t Fiona, beloved inhabitant of the Cincinnati Zoo. It’s actually a pool toy the team uses so catchers can practice receiving throws and applying tags for plays at the plate.
The drill is the brainchild of third-base coach J.R. House, who discussed how it came to be during a “Coach ‘Em Up” segment on Access Reds with Jim Day back in 2022, saying he had to beg his daughter to let him use the toy because she really liked it.
“We took it out there and pretty much ruined it,” House said in the interview. “But we would tie a string to it, and as the ball was coming in, I would pull it and it would be like a runner coming in. So we tried to simulate that. So it was something that wouldn’t hurt our guys and they wouldn’t get banged up or anything, but simulate something fast where they could make a tag.”
House also noted that he got plenty of looks the first time he brought the hippo out for the drill, but that the players ended up liking it.
Per Wikipedia, "despite being semiaquatic, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer." So we're not sure if the toy is ever going to bust out a swim slide to try to get under a tag.