Reds shortstop Jose Barrero will need several weeks at Triple-A before being activated from the IL

Jose Barrero will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville on Friday. The Cincinnati Reds shortstop has been sidelined since the start of spring training with a wrist injury that eventually required surgery.

But don't expect Barrero's rehab stop to mimic that of the recently activated Joey Votto or the soon-to-be activated Nick Senzel. Barrero missed all of spring training, so we're probably looking at two-to-three weeks before the infielder is back in Cincinnati.

Reds SS Jose Barrero began a rehab assignment on Friday.

We're all excited to see what Jose Barrero can do when the infielder finally rejoins his Cincinnati Reds teammates. There was expected to be a pretty intense competition between Barrero and incumbent shortstop Kyle Farmer during spring training.

But an injury took Barrero out of the mix before the competition even began. Barrero was said to have suffered the injury prior to spring training, but because of the MLB lockout, little was known about the extend of the 24-year-old's injury.

According to Reds manager David Bell, via MLB.com, this isn't about proving that Barrero belongs in the big leagues, but about getting his body into game-shape. e fanbase should expect to see Barrero take the full time allotted for players sent on a rehab assignment.

"He’s going to need these three weeks for sure, not only to make sure he’s healthy, but to use it as Spring Training almost to get back into playing."

- David Bell, Reds manager

Jose Barrero has had an up-and-down start to his major league career. Most of Barrero's big league experience has been sporadic at best. In 117 at-bats, Barrero has hit just .197/.242/.248. However, 67 of Barrero's ABs came during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before he'd even played above A-Ball.

Kyle Farmer's slow start to the 2022 season will undoubtedly help Barrero seem an increased amount of playing time once he returns from his rehab assignment. Farmer is hitting just .217/.278/.317 this season.

Unless an injury befalls one of the Reds infielders, fans shouldn't expect to see Jose Barrero back in a Cincinnati uniform until sometime in June. But we'll be keeping close tabs on his rehab assignment. With Matt McLain climbing up the through the farm system, this is an important season for the Reds to see if Barrero has what it takes be an everyday contributor on a major league roster.