DaytonDailyNews.com

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jerry Gil is hard to miss as a Cincinnati Reds outfielder, probably the tallest guy nobody knows.

Asked how tall he is, he said, "Six-foot-three and a couple of inches."

He is a 24-year-old the Reds acquired from Arizona in a trade shortly after last season and with him comes a legend and a myth.

There is no doubt Gil has the best arm in camp, an arm he has displayed a couple of times this spring in obliterating base runners. That, though, doesn't make myths.

It is said that Gil can throw a baseball from home plate over the center field wall, usually more than 400 feet from home plate. Gil says it is true.

"Done it many times, easy for me," he said. "I start against the backstop screen and getting a running start to home plate and throw it over the wall.

I also plenty of times have thrown baseballs from the right field corner over a scoreboard in left field."

Gil's arm strength probably comes from his uncle Josias Manzanillo, a relief pitcher who sprinted from the mound to the dugout after getting the last out of an inning and pitched briefly for the Reds in 2003.

"It was Uncle Manzanillo who got me to concentrate on baseball," said Gil. "I was mostly a basketball player (in the Dominican Republic) until I was 14 or 15 and he convinced me to play baseball."

Gil is likely to start this season at Class AAA Louisville, where he can throw balls over the center-field wall in Slugger Field.

From 20/20 to 20/13

Credit Josh Hamilton with a sense of humor about his recent history with drugs and alcohol.

"My eyesight in 20/13," he said. "They were a little bleary for four years, only 20/20."

Hamilton, a cinch to make the team as a fourth or fifth outfielder, said he has never been to Cincinnati, "In fact I never much got out of North Carolina in my life. But I'd be more than happy to go."

When told about the home run reputation of Great American Ball Park, Hamilton said, "That's what I've been hearing. That the ball carries. But I'm just trying to hit line drives."

Majewski throws

Pitcher Gary Majewski finally did it, on the 29th day of camp. He faced hitters for the first time Saturday morning in Sarasota, "And everybody said he did well and felt good," said manager Jerry Narron. Within the next five or six days Majewski will test his troublesome shoulder in a minor-league game.

Ryan Freel missed his fourth straight game (tight hamstring) Saturday and while he says he can play Narron says it isn't likely he'll play again until after the team's day off Tuesday.

Making no Dent

As a bit of a gag, bench coach Bucky Dent took the lineup card to home plate before Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox, expecting some boos from fans who remember the home run he hit for the 1978 New York Yankees in a playoff game in Fenway Park against the Red Sox to win the pennant.

As if to counteract Dent, the public address announcer introduced the carrier of the Boston lineup by saying, "Carrying the Red Sox lineup card, No. 6, Johnny Pesky (a Boston legend)." Dent was not introduced, saving his ears a cacophony of boos.

Pitching report

Eric Milton and Matt Belisle, rained out of their scheduled work Friday, pitched Saturday against Baltimore minor-leaguers. Milton gave up one run and four hits over five innings (72) and Belise went two perfect innings with a strikeout (23 pitches).

Quote of the day

The Reds brought minor-league pitcher Brian O'Connor to Fort Myers, "Because we had to bring an O'Connor to face the Red Sox on St. Patrick's Day." — Reds General Manager Wayne Krisky.