Cincinnati Reds wish Bronson Arroyo a happy birthday and hope he gets better with age

Bronson Arroyo turned 40 years old in February and the Cincinnati Reds hope he hits the mound soon.

Bronson Arroyo’s re-debut for the Cincinnati Reds was pushed back due to illness.  Now he is a bit behind the rest of the pitchers in camp.  So far Arroyo has only pitched in batting practice.

About half of the pitchers who have made an appearance so far this spring have already made two.  One pitcher has already pitched in three games.  Evan Mitchell has pitched 1/3, 1/3, and two innings over three games already.

Meanwhile, Arroyo hasn’t gotten into a game or all that close yet.  This isn’t too awful yet, but it’s getting bad.  In the past two seasons Arroyo has only pitched 5 spring training innings.

Usually to get ready Arroyo needs 5 or 6 games and about 20 innings.  With opening day a month away he would basically need to go into a normal rotation to get ready that quickly.  Don’t forget that he hasn’t even made the team yet.

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Over the course of his career, Arroyo has pitched an entire other season in spring training.  He’s 10-17 with a 4.41 ERA over 190 innings in his combined spring trainings.  His numbers are slightly worse in spring than in the regular season, but he has to get ready.

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In his first run with the Cincinnati Reds Bronson Arroyo’s success was not linked to pitching in the spring.

For whatever reason, the springs during which Arroyo pitched fewer innings for the Reds tended to result in better seasons.  Granted, his first season with the Reds he did spend half of spring with the Boston Red Sox before being traded for Wily Mo Pena.  That resulted in the best season of his career.

In defense of having him pitcher more, he also pitched only 7 2/3 innings in 2014 before hurting his arm halfway through the season.  In 2012 when he had his second best season, he pitched 25 1/3 innings.  So it really would be nice to get him on the mound pitching sooner than later.

With his age, he does need sometime to really loosen up the arm.  He also needs to make sure that he leaves something in the tank.  There is a reason that this is a one and done season for Arroyo before retirement.

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The fans all want to see him pitch.  He is a fan favorite in the truest sense of the word.  There is nothing quite like watching someone you enjoy seeing play the game like a 20 year old when he is twice that age.