This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Cactus League exhibition schedule gets going for the Reds on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. ET vs. the Guardians. That will be when we can really begin to see which players battling for roster spots separate themselves and where established big leaguers begin laying the foundation for what they hope are successful 2026 seasons.
Even without games, there has been plenty to see and hear from Reds players, coaches and staff during workouts for the past week and a half. Here are just a few observations from Reds camp:
• The battle for the fifth spot in the rotation has already been as advertised. Chase Burns, Rhett Lowder, Brandon Williamson and Julian Aguiar have all faced hitters twice in live BP sessions. All looked really good. Lowder, Williamson and Aguiar showed no rust after each missed the 2025 season.
• On his first day of seeing live pitching, outfielder Dane Myers faced Burns and came away very impressed.
“The first at-bat I had off of him, the first pitch I saw was fastball, up and in, paint. Then he threw a slider that basically tunneled the same exact way and I chased it," Myers said. "I take pride in knowing the zone and seeing pitches pretty well. Seeing him tunnel his fastball and slider like that is pretty special. I remember being geared up for the heater and still fouling it straight back. Plus ride, good deception. It gets on you pretty good."
By the way, Burns will start the Cactus League opener vs. Cleveland on Saturday. The game will be available for free on MLB.TV.
• Asked about Lowder after his last time throwing on Monday, manager Terry Francona responded, "Very polished." A Reds hitter said of Lowder, "He's gross," which was intended as a compliment.
• Francona has been pleased with the entire pitching staff's work on and off the mound so far. "I haven't seen anybody yet that hasn't looked good, and that's a good thing and that's normal this time of spring. Everybody's glass is half-full and it's supposed to be. If it's not now, you're really in trouble."
• The Reds would love to see Sal Stewart (MLB Pipeline's No. 22 overall prospect) go out and win the job as their regular first baseman. For his part, Stewart is doing everything he can to get it and is taking nothing for granted. Every morning at dawn, Stewart is doing something. It could be working with coach Mike Napoli on a practice field or doing agility drills. Stewart has also taken grounders at second base and third base.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity," Stewart said. "That’s Tito’s job to decide where he wants to put me. I trust his plan. My job is to go out and give it my best effort.”
• Spencer Steer has also been moving around, spending time at first base, second base and left field. Steer isn't expected to get any work at third base.
• Eugenio Suárez has gotten a lot of work at third base because he will play there in the World Baseball Classic soon for Venezuela. On some days, including Wednesday, Suárez has practiced at first base. Watching him scooping balls out of the dirt, it's clear it's not natural for him yet, but that's what spring is for. Over his career, Suárez has played only three games at first base, all last season, with no starts.
• Baserunning, especially advancing from first base on base hits, is a point of emphasis this spring that Francona would like to see improve from 2025.
“I think we can do better at knowing where the ball is all the time," Francona said. "We are fast for the most part. I know we weren’t as aggressive as before, but we’re still one of the more aggressive teams. When guys are sliding into second and the ball is in the outfield, they don’t know where it is. We’ve got to do better at knowing where the ball is."
How do players work on this? Sometimes, it's as simple as taking a step or two and then glancing in to pick up the ball.
"That’s all it is, a glance," Francona said. "[Matt] McLain is really good at it. Some guys weren’t taught that when they were young, so it’s a little bit of a challenge. When you’re running and don’t know where the ball is, you’re kind of relying on luck. We don’t want to do that.”