Cincinnati Reds Cut Spring Roster to 35

With the clock winding down toward Opening Day, the Cincinnati Reds’ roster is beginning to take shape.

Only two spring training games remain and the Reds are starting to whittle down their roster before the first regular season game on April 4. The team announced several moves on Wednesday, as they optioned Tyler Holt to Triple-A Louisville, offered Rule 5 pick Chris O’Grady back to the Los Angeles Angels and reassigned Ryan Mattheus, Drew Hayes, J.C. Ramirez and Pedro Villarreal to minor league camp.

The most notable move was the Reds’ choice to offer O’Grady back to the Angels. As the only other lefty reliever in camp aside from Tony Cingrani, O’Grady seemed to have a great shot at making the club back when pitchers and catchers reported a month-and-a-half ago. But despite showing flashes of his potential at times during spring, he looked overmatched at others, all of it amounting to a 9.31 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 9.2 innings.

Villarreal being reassigned also came as a slight surprise, as his spring performance (2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) seemed to have him primed to take over the long relief role once again. Hayes also threw the ball well, allowing only one run and striking out 13 in 10 innings, leaving him a prime candidate to be promoted if injuries or ineffectiveness causes a bullpen spot to open up.

Removing Holt, Mattheus and Ramirez from the spring roster wasn’t as hard to see coming. Holt had an uphill climb to beat out Rule 5 selection Jake Cave and Yorman Rodriguez, who is out of options, for a roster spot. Mattheus and Ramirez simply didn’t pitch well enough to carve out a relief role.

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Manager Bryan Price has said the Reds will carry eight men in the bullpen to begin the season, so Wednesday’s moves provide a lot of clarity as to who will make up the relief corps. Assuming J.J. Hoover, Cingrani, Jumbo Diaz, Keyvius Sampson and Ross Ohlendorf are locks to make the team, that leaves Dayan Diaz, Caleb Cotham, and Blake Wood as the likely suspects to take the last three spots unless the team brings in another free agent.

The Reds also told Adam Duvall and Ivan De Jesus Jr. that they’ve made the team, according to MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. Duvall, who has hit .328 with a team-high four home runs and 17 runs batted in, could very well be the starting left fielder on Opening Day, while De Jesus will again provide the club with the versatility to play five different positions.

With an extra man in the bullpen, that means the team is only going to carry four bench players (five if only four starting pitchers are included on the Opening Day roster). With De Jesus and Tucker Barnhart already guaranteed a roster spot, that leaves Cave, Rodriguez, Jose Peraza, Scott Schebler and Jordan Pacheco to battle for the final two (or three) spots.

The latest roster cuts leave 35 players in camp and 38 on the 40-man roster.