CINCINNATI – Derek Johnson has a lot to look forward to in 2025.
The Reds pitching coach is entering his seventh season in charge of the staff and has been working hard this offseason to be ready for what he says is new manager Terry Francona’s only objective – win.
Johnson knows this is the deepest and most talented staff he has had in his seven years in Cincinnati and he understands the expectations that come with that.
He has starters in Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott who have already demonstrated they have the talent and composure to handle the responsibility of taking the bump every five (or six) days in the rotation. He has a wealth of relievers that figure to come into further focus during spring training in Goodyear in February and early March.
But then there’s the fascinating case of Graham Ashcraft. The 26-year-old came up as the “third” starting prospect in 2022. He grew into that role in 2023, despite a nasty calf injury on a comebacker. But in 2024, he never really found his footing. His spring training started with his recovery from surgery to address a big toe stress reaction in the offseason. He was 5-5 but had a 5.24 ERA with just 57 strikeouts in 15 starts. He fell back drastically, leading to a pair of options to Triple-A and an elbow injury that ended his season though his second option was technically voided due to his season-ending elbow injury.
When physically and mentally sound, Ashcraft presents one of the best power arms on the Reds staff.
Where does the hard-throwing right-hander fit into this year’s plans?
“I’m going to prepare him – and he’s preparing himself – right now as a starter, sort of with the understanding that we may switch gears on him in the middle of spring training, kind of looking at him in that way,” Johnson told me. “So I think from that end, he’s going to come in, he’s going to compete for a spot. He certainly is in the mix for us. It’s hard to leave out that kind of arm and that kind of stuff.
“So what his role ends up being, I think that we’ll have to make a decision on that sometime relatively in the middle of spring training. But I love the kid and I want him to do well. He deserves it based on how he would go about it.”
In three seasons, Ashcraft is 17-20 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 60 appearances. But what makes him an intriguing possibility out of the bullpen and what fueled speculation about his potential as a reliever is effectiveness the first time through a batting order and his complete four-pitch mix that includes a nasty cutter, slider, sinker and changeup. This is a pitcher that has shown dominating stuff in glimpses and stretches through his career in Cincinnati. It’s up to Johnson to maximize that stuff on a staff that will need to fulfill potential if they aspire to make a deep postseason run.
“I love G. He’s an excellent person. He works very, very hard. He’s determined to be good. There isn’t anything that you can say about him from any sort of professional aspect that isn’t great. He’s got a good arm. I think back to maybe three or four years ago when I kind of first met G and I was around him a little bit, I mean he’s come a really long way as a pitcher in those three or four or whatever years it’s been.
“There were games that he pitched where he just he kind of dominated there were other games where he didn’t and again kind of going back to it, seemed like the theme is all of those kids (Greene and Lodolo) came up at the same time and none of them were probably truly ready, but we had to do it out of necessity in some cases. I thought he handled himself really well. So from that end, yeah I want him on our team. I’ve talked to Graham a little bit about both roles. I don’t think he cares.”
The roughest part of 2024 for Johnson was watching Ashcraft forced to handle a demotion not once but twice.
“I felt bad for Graham. I mean, I feel bad for all of them,” Johnson said. “It’s never a fun thing to have to tell a kid that he’s being sent down. But it’s the way it has to go. And I think that he could have used and probably did utilize his time down there, to try to get himself back on track and get better. And of course, you know, the Triple-A pitching coach (Virgil Vasquez) and myself were communicating back and forth and kind of checking on his progress but it’s never easy. I think for him it was probably even harsher because he had spent kind of a good bit of time already in the big leagues and had never been sent down before.”
Johnson says Ashcraft has kept in touch with him in the offseason and says he’ll be ready to to come mid-February after his bout with elbow issues last summer.
“I talked to him last week, he’s ready to go,” Johnson said. “He says he’s 100 percent. He’s still doing all of his physical therapy that they’ve asked him to do but in terms of being ready, he is ready.”
Johnson realizes that 2025 is both a critical year and great opportunity for both him and the pitchers he manages. If healthy, Ashcraft figures to be a major part of those plans.
On Tuesday, the Reds invited 15 players to their Major League spring training camp, brining the spring roster to 55 players, which includes its full 40-man roster. Several top prospects are included in the non-roster group, including pitchers Chase Burns, Chase Petty, Jose Acuña and infielders Edwin Arroyo, Sal Stewart and Cam Collier.
- RHP Jose Acuña
- INF Edwin Arroyo
- C Will Banfield
- RHP Chase Burns
- INF Cam Collier
- INF Ivan Johnson
- RHP Zach Maxwell
- RHP Chase Petty
- OF Hector Rodriguez
- RHP Bryan Shaw
- INF Sal Stewart
- RHP Lenny Torres
- C Michael Trautwein
- C Austin Wynns
- LHP Alex Young
