Any concerns over whether Nick Castellanos would be ready for Opening Day seemed to be answered succinctly on Monday by the Reds right fielder. "I'm ready today," Castellanos said. During Friday's scrimmage, Castellanos was hit in his upper back by a Tyler Mahle fastball and fell to the ground. Castellanos was down for several moments as he experienced a "stinger" until getting up and walking off the field under his own power. "I couldn't really feel my arms," Castellanos explained. "The best way that I could describe it is when you wake up after sleeping on your arm and you've got to move it over to the side because you can't feel it -- that's what I had on both arms. Once I recognized that it was kind of a stinger, I just kind of laid there until I got feeling back in my hands, and then once I got feeling back in my arms and stuff, then I just have a bruise now on my back." Castellanos, 28, missed the last two scrimmages as a precaution, but he was scheduled to work out with the club on Monday afternoon and possibly take a couple of at-bats in a five-inning controlled scrimmage with Luis Castillo on the mound. One of the reasons the Reds have held off setting their 30-man Opening Day roster was to be sure Castellanos could play. "We're pretty confident that he's going to be fine Ken Griffey Jr reds Jersey," manager David Bell said. "It'll be good before we finalize that we don't have to go back and change. That's the big hold-up. There's enough questions -- nothing major -- but we want to be sure." Signed to a four-year, $64 million contract on Jan. 27, Castellanos is expected to contribute to Cincinnati's revamped lineup. Over 151 games last season for the Tigers and Cubs, Castellanos posted a .289/.337/.525 slash line with 27 home runs while leading the Major Leagues with 58 doubles. Following his July 31 trade from Detroit to Chicago, he hit 16 homers with a 1.002 OPS in 51 games. "He's here to be the best player he can be and to win. What more can you ask?" Bell said. "He's just going to add to our team on the field, off the field. He just brings an edge that you need to be a great player in this league." Castellanos likes his team's chances to contend during the shortened 60-game regular season that opens on Friday vs. his former club, the Tigers. "I would say it feels more unique because this is probably one of the better teams I've been on in a while," Castellanos said. "I think that we have more established players on this team that have a common goal to win, and I think that makes the game more fun." The Reds announced on Monday that utility player Derek Dietrich exercised the out clause in his contract and was granted his release. Dietrich, 31, had just rejoined the team on Wednesday after he tested positive for COVID-19, though he had no serious symptoms and went on to receive two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Reds manager David Bell chatted with Dietrich when he first returned, and he was told that if an opportunity to sign with another club came that Dietrich might take it. “He knew there was an opportunity here Pete Rose reds Jersey, but it wasn’t going to be from Opening Day,” Bell said. “We really believed that he needed a little bit more time than that. I’m happy for Derek, very happy for him. Really grateful for the relationship, personally, I was able to build with him. A good person, very good player. He became a big part of our team. “He’ll definitely be missed, but I’m happy for him if he has another opportunity. He’s definitely a Major League player, I get it. He wanted that to happen as quick as he could.”Dietrich is free to sign with any of the other 29 clubs. Under the roster rules in place this year, he would be unable to return to Cincinnati if there were no other offers. During his lone season with the Reds in 2019, Dietrich batted .187/.328/.462 with 19 home runs and 43 RBIs in 113 games. The lefty hitter slugged 18 homers before the All-Star break and endured a second-half swoon in production, batting .071 with one homer. Much of the time, Dietrich battled a sore left shoulder, and he had arthroscopic surgery to debride it on Sept. 27. The Reds took him off the 40-man roster after the season, but they signed him to a Minor League contract on March 1 and brought him to camp as a non-roster player. Because he was rehabilitating his surgically repaired right shoulder at Spring Training, Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez would not have been ready for the original Opening Day on March 26. That won’t be a problem, now that the opener is against the Tigers on Friday.“My body feels very good Amir Garrett Jersey,” Suárez said on Monday. “My mental toughness is strong. I feel very good, so excited. Four days until Opening Day. I can’t wait to put everything together on the field. I feel so good with my body and my shoulder. Everything feels very good, so I’m ready. I can’t wait.”Bell impressed by Raley Bell was pleased that he could inform non-roster lefty pitcher Brooks Raley on Sunday that his contract was selected and he would make the Opening Day roster. Raley, 32, last pitched in the Major Leagues for the Cubs in 2013, and he spent the previous five seasons pitching in Korea. “First of all, what a great accomplishment,” Bell said on Monday. “Had a nice career in Korea. That was a great message to deliver. He was extremely happy. He should be very happy with himself for staying with it. He came in and impressed us. He’s always had the ability to get right-handers out, as well as left-handers. That’s a nice addition given the new [three-batter minimum] rule this year. He has the ability to have length out of the bullpen, but he could come in and pitch big innings late in the game. Very valuable.” The Reds will have their first exhibition game since the shutdown when they face the Tigers at 6:40 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park. Top prospect Nick Lodolo is scheduled to start for Cincinnati, which will play Detroit twice before facing the Tigers again to begin the regular season on Friday. “We will have a daily schedule that mimics our in-season schedule,” Bell said. “I’d like guys to go deep into the games -- at least one of the games. May get them out earlier Wednesday, then we’ll have a light workout Thursday. We didn’t know if we’d be ready at this point Aristides Aquino Jersey. But we feel very ready to go.”Growing up less than an hour from Cincinnati in Pendleton County, Ky., reliever Nate Jones watched many Reds Opening Days on television. But Jones attended his share of the team’s games, too.“When we had perfect attendance or the A/B honor roll growing up, one of the prizes or gifts you got was two tickets to a Reds game,” Jones said on Sunday. “I'm not saying I was the best student or made it to school every day, but when I did, you realized, ‘Hey, you got to go to a Reds game,’ so those experiences with my family were ones that I'll cherish and never forget.” When Cincinnati opens the 2020 season vs. the Tigers on Friday, Jones will be back at Great American Ball Park again. This time, the right-hander will be seated in the bullpen. Manager David Bell informed Jones on Saturday evening that the non-roster pitcher had made the team.As a fellow Cincinnati-area native and resident, Bell knew what that meant to Jones, who resides in Butler, Ky. “It adds to the experience of wanting to do well and being successful individually and having a goal of trying to win and winning a championship,” Bell said. “All of that and doing it for a team that means a lot to you, no matter what.” This was no hometown favor for Jones, who signed a Minor League contract with the Reds on Jan. 14 and was invited to big league camp. He looked good in camp before the pandemic shut down baseball, having worked three innings in three games. Jones pitched well during Summer Camp, including one scoreless inning with one hit, one intentional walk and two strikeouts for a save in Saturday’s scrimmage. “I was still able to do my job, which is attack hitters and get guys out. Whenever you can do that, it can definitely make it a tough decision on the team on whether for me to stay or go,” said Jones, who was part of Team USA’s championship squad in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Barry Larkin Jersey. Over 284 career games in the Major Leagues with the White Sox from 2012-19, Jones is 22-13 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. His 318 strikeouts in that span led all Sox relievers. In May, Jones suffered a torn flexor mass muscle and had season-ending surgery. He appeared in only 13 games last season and posted a 3.48 ERA and career-worst 1.65 WHIP. The 34-year-old also endured numerous injuries earlier in his career. “Going in, we knew what he had done in his career,” Bell said. “We knew he could help us, not only being on the staff but potentially being a guy we rely on and has the experience of pitching late in games in big situations and all of that. The big thing going in for us -- is Nate healthy? And he’s shown that.” Tucker Barnhart caught Jones for the first time in a game on Saturday and called mostly sliders. Jones offers a unique arm angle with his delivery that can be deceptive for hitters. “His arm action is hard to describe unless you see it,” Barnhart said. “It’s not like an Iron Mike pitching machine. He’s got a really funky arm action that’s unique to him. It’s fun to catch. He’s an awesome guy, really down to Earth and humble. I’m looking forward to catching him more.” When he was told he made the club, Jones was able to share the joy with his family locally -- including his father, Bill, who helped him build a mound so he could keep pitching during the shutdown. Now that Jones knows he can participate in a Cincinnati Opening Day, he realizes much of the usual hype and tradition will be absent. Because of COVID-19, no fans will be inside Great American Ball Park, and no block party or parade will occur outside.“Obviously, fans being there and family being there make it different, but bringing it back to the simplest form of making the Opening Day roster, I'm not going to let it take away from that,” Jones said. “It is a bummer that we're not going to have any fans and my family can't be there, but it's still awesome and it's still exciting and I'm definitely honored by that.”
