CINCINNATI — The second-most talked about wrist in Cincinnati sports is mending quickly. And that’s great news for the Reds.
Reds skipper David Bell said prior to Friday’s series opener with the Los Angeles Angels that TJ Friedl’s right wrist is mending quickly and that the starting center fielder could be on a rehab assignment before the end of April.
“He got some good news I would say a couple of days ago,” Bell said. “He’s fully building his strength back up, ready to ramp up his swing. He could be back on a rehab assignment within like 10 days to two weeks. And then it would just be a matter of baseball (activities), how much he needs to get back to our team. Yeah, he’s pretty excited. We slowed him down a little bit (at the start of April). That’s now in the past (and) he’s back fully pushing forward.”
Friedl fractured his right wrist diving for a ball against Seattle on March 16 in Goodyear.
Since then, Will Benson (9), Stuart Fairchild (6) and Bubba Thompson (3) have divvied up the duties in center, with Fairchild getting his seventh start on Friday.
The results without Friedl have been mixed to say the least. Without Frield, the Reds scored 27 runs in routing the hapless White Sox last weekend in Chicago, with Benson, Fairchild, Thompson and Spencer Steer all making diving catches. The offense clicked and everything was fine.
In Seattle, the Reds scored a whopping five runs in three games and were swept by the Mariners.
Bell said Friday that reliever Ian Gibaut had a non-surgical treatment performed on his right forearm Thursday after being returned from his rehab assignment after complaining of some soreness last Saturday.
Bell said the Reds are hoping the forearm will settle down to the point next week where he feels strength again and can return to his rehab.
“There’s they did something (Thursday) based on what they found and think maybe is causing the pain,” Bell said. “When he goes to throw if he feels better, they think they found something that’s not serious, that (won’t) keep him out for a long time. The good news is we’re gonna know in the next hopefully (Friday), if not (Saturday), and he can be back pitching again real soon.”
Gibaut has appeared in five minor league games between High-A Dayton and Triple-A Louisville, going 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA, allowing five runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking three.
The nasty flu-like symptoms going through the Reds clubhouse has just about run its course. Certainly David Bell hopes so. For the second straight game, neither Christian Encarnacion-Strand nor Jeimer Candelario were available as starters as they recover from whatever it is that’s had them under the weather this week. But the good news Friday is that both were available off the bench in an emergency if the Reds get into a pinch.
“Probably most of the team has had something,” Bell said. “There’s like three different things going around. Allergies, cold, maybe flu. TJ Friedl had it and we didn’t notice that because he wasn’t playing. But a few guys had a little bit worse than others, and I would say Christian and Jeimer had kind of the worst version of whatever it was.”
The Reds had a severe contagion during their last trip to Seattle in David Bell’s first season as skipper in 2019, when no fewer than six players were impacted, including Joey Votto.
“That was that was a little bit different,” Bell recalled Friday. “That was different than anything I’ve ever seen. Yeah, that was nasty. So yeah, it’s nothing like that. This goes back to spring training. I would say everyone probably has had something, probably normal this time of year. But yeah, when it keeps guys out of the lineup that’s too bad, but they are getting better. They’re feeling better. So hopefully we’re right at the end of it now.”
The news was also encouraging Friday on lefty Brandon Williamson. The left-hander came out of a spring start on March 17 vs. Cleveland with left shoulder soreness.
“He’s progressing,” Bell said. “Brandon is in Arizona still. He’s ramping up his throwing every day. I believe he’s getting off the mound, or close to it. If everything goes perfect, he would be back like towards the end of May. And most of that is just the build up because he’s a starter, getting his innings built back up. But he hasn’t had any complaints of shoulder pain or anything. So we might have caught it just in time.”
