The Real McCoy

About The Real McCoy

Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.

Get more from Hal

Hal's e-mail newsletter is the only place you can get his weekly commentary on the Reds. Sign up

February 2009

RSS Syndication

XML The Real McCoy
XML More 'DDN' feeds

More recent entries

• Jones, Gomes: no great risk involved
• Gonzalez still up, down, up, down
• Maybe Reds won't be a running joke
• Gomes can deal with adeversity
• Griffey's triumphant Seattle return
• Some spring training odds and ends
• E.E. - The Man with a Plan for 2009
• Encarnacion loses, but still wins
• Taveras: "I can steal 100 bases"
• Bailey once again focus of attention
• More entries...

Archives

• February 22, 2009
• February 21, 2009
• February 20, 2009
• February 19, 2009
• February 18, 2009
• February 17, 2009
• February 16, 2009
• More archives...

Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > February > 21 > Entry

Maybe Reds won’t be a running joke

By Hal McCoy | Saturday, February 21, 2009, 09:07 AM

For those who wonder if the Cincinnati Reds ever work on anything in spring training but their golf strokes, fishing casts and toasty tans, Friday would have been a good day to watch the team work out.

Fans were highly critical last year of the team’s baserunning gaffes - rightfully so - and wondered if the team ever worked on the nuances of baserunning.

There was evidence Friday as Eric Davis and Billy Hatcher conducted a workout that had manager Dusty Baker in awe.

“I’m going to tell the guys at the meeting (Saturday morning) that yesterday was THE finest baserunning conditioning workout I’ve ever seen,” said Baker. “As far as technique, as far as cutting the corners on bases, as far as energy, as far as training - along with some fun and competition as well - that was THE best.

“Eric Davis made sure they cut the corners correctly and Eric and Hatcher discussed technique and energy,” said Baker.

So we can expect better baserunning this year? We shall see, we shall see.

REMEMBER BROOKS Kieschnick? He was an outfielder who threw so well that the Milwaukee Brewers used him in the bullpen. Sometimes they would have him pinch-hit, then go into a game as a relief pitcher.

Micah Owings is just the opposite - a pitcher who can hit, not an outfielder who can pitch. But Baker is considering using him the same way as the Brewers used Kieschnick in 2004, “If Owings doesn’t make the rotation. We could have him pinch-hit, then go into the game and pitch in relief.”

Baker was asked if he has Owings practice hitting more than a regular pitcher, knowing he might be used as a pinch-hitter, and he said, “He goes in and hits on his own. I went to the cage one day and said, ‘Man, who is that kid with that big ol’ helmet on?’ I thought it was Todd Fraizer by his stroke (a good one) by how and it looked and it ended up being Owings.

“Every pitcher likes to hit, enjoys hitting, butOwings likes to hit because he CAN hit,” said Baker. “I told him to make sure he is stretched out before he hits too much. Hitting is different than throwing.”

Kieschnick hit .270 with one homer and seven RBIs in that role with the ‘04 Brewers, but Owings displays a propensity for hitting even better than that, at least for average.

Kieschnick was a power plant. Actually, he was in camp with the Reds one year, as an outfielder only. He didn’t make the team but he was a Batting Practice Wonder, hitting some balls that knocked down clouds and threatened the landing/takeoff patterns of flights in and out of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

Couldn’t do it in games, though.

SPEAKING OF TODD FRAZIER, one of the team’s highest prospects, Baker was asked if he had talked much to him yet this spring.

“Just a little bit,” said Baker. “I see him, but I hear him mostly. I hear his bat. He has a different sound in his bat. He has a different swing, but it is very effective.”

Frazier is one of the many shortstop prospects in camp - Paul Janish, Frazier, Chris Valaika.

“We have decisions to make at the minor league level when you have guys like (first baseman) Yonder Alonzo, (third baseman Juan Francisco), Frazier and others,” said Baker. Because the club is rich in shortstop and third base prospects, some switching may be done.

“Francisco may play third and/or outfield and Frazier may play short, third or outfielder,” said Baker. “And with Valaika at short, you know, where are you going to put all these guys if they play on the same team? They all need at-bats, but they need to be in positions where they might play in the big leagues.”

There is some talk that Frazier might be too big for a shortstop (6-3, 220), but in this day and age, how big is too big?

Baker doesn’t subscribe.

“Every time I looke at him I think of Cal Ripken Jr.s body type,” he said. “He supposedly didn’t have the body type for a shortstop. If he walked into this room and you didn’t know he was a shortstop, there was no way you’d think he was a shortstop.”

And how did that work out?

Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment |