Raisel Iglesias to start for Reds on Opening Day
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Raisel Iglesias will start Opening Day for the Reds.
The Reds had planned on Anthony DeSclafani taking the mound on April 4 against the Phillies, but his 2016 season has been delayed by a mild left oblique strain. The Reds hope DeSclafani will be able to start for the team on April 10, the sixth game of the season. DeSclafani first noticed pain in his side in his March 18 spring training start at Milwaukee, but didn’t inform the team until after his March 24 start against the Rangers.
The two spots were nearly flip-flopped, as Iglesias was expected to start the season at the back of the rotation in an attempt to keep his arm fresh.
While DeSclafani was disappointed on Monday, Iglesias was excited.
“First of all, I want to thank the team for having confidence in me and I want to thank the training staff, the coaching staff and the whole organization for the help they have given me over the last year,” Iglesias said through translator Tomas Vera. “I believe the news that the manager gave me today is one of the best news I’ve had in the last couple of years, because being an Opening Day starter for a pitcher is something I’m proud of, and it’s great news for me.”
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Left-hander Brandon Finnegan will start the second game of the season, Wednesday, April 6. The starter for the April 7 game is still to be determined, Price said, with both right-hander Tim Melville and right-hander Robert Stephenson possibilities. Alfredo Simon will start the first game of the series against the Pirates on April 8, followed by Iglesias on regular rest on that Saturday and then, hopefully, DeSclafani.
“(The pain) was definitely tolerable, but it got worse and worse and then I think it gets to the point where you have to be smart as a player to let people know and take more of a cautious side because I want to pitch all year,” DeSclafani said on Monday. “Obviously, it would have been awesome to pitch Opening Day and all of that, but you don’t want to mess with obliques. They can be a nagging injury all season and I don’t want that, I want to be healthy the whole season.”
The Reds’ three starters in their opening series against the Phillies could have a total of 20 big-league starts to their name, 16 from Iglesias, four by Finnegan and it appears at this point that the Wednesday night game could be the big-league debut for either Tim Melville or top prospect Robert Stephenson.
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“There are obvious decisions to be made on who the choices are,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “We’ve got guys on the roster, non-roster guys. It could easily be a start one game and return to player development. There are a lot of things that go into making that decision and it hasn’t been finalized yet. We’ll see.”
Iglesias appeared in 18 total games last season, going 3-7 with a 4.15 ERA, but was shut down after Sept. 13 because of shoulder fatigue.
Because of his history – Iglesias left Cuba in 2013 and didn’t pitch competitively until the Arizona Fall League in late 2014 – the Reds held him back from the rest of the pitchers this spring.
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Iglesias didn’t start a spring game until March 14, the second start of the third week of games in Arizona.
“When they set up the program for me, I was willing to follow whatever was going to happen in the program and I just did whatever they told me to do,” Iglesias said, according to Vera. “But when I grabbed the ball the first time and I started throwing, I was actually surprised with myself at just how good I was feeling at that time. Since then, I’ve felt the same way.”
Iglesias will be the second Cuban pitcher to start for the Reds on Opening Day, joining Reds Hall of Famer Dolf Luque, who started Opening Day on 1921 and 1928.
Whoever starts in the third game could be making just one start before returning to the minors. The Reds hope right-hander Jon Moscot can return from a strained intercostal muscle by the time the Reds would need a fifth starter again on April 17.
Moscot threw 33 pitches in a minor-league game on Monday and said he felt good.
The Reds have said Homer Bailey could be ready to come back from Tommy John surgery as soon as the beginning of May, and John Lamb (back) should return in the second month of the season, as well.
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“(We) know that in the matter of a month or so, we should be a lot healthier than we are right now, and that should answer a lot of the questions about our rotation and our bullpen, when we can plug in our guys that we anticipate,” Price said. “We anticipated (Michael) Lorenzen and Moscot (to start the season). We didn’t anticipate Lamb and Bailey, but we did know they would be with us at some point in time.
"That’s kind of what’s led to this question mark over our rotation and bullpen. I think those questions will be answered in four-to-six weeks once we get into the season.”