Reds cut two more players as spring training roster slims down

Things are starting to move over the last couple of days when it comes to the Cincinnati Reds making cuts to get their roster down to a required 26 players for Opening Day. Today was the 4th straight day in which the team made at least one roster cut and today it was two of them. The Reds optioned outfielder Blake Dunn to Triple-A Louisville and reassigned to minor league camp reliever Anthony Misiewicz, who was a non-roster invitee to spring training.

It was a tough spring for Blake Dunn. He struggled to get his bat going as he went just 3-22 with a double, home run, two walks, and five strikeouts. He played in 12 games, including getting the start in yesterday’s contest against the Seattle Mariners. Dunn avoided a serious injury back on March 6th when he hyperextended his knee while in the field against San Francisco. He returned a week later and played in two games before being optioned back to the minor leagues this morning.

Anthony Misiewicz has put up good numbers this spring. The 31-year-old lefty signed a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to spring training about two weeks before spring training began. Cincinnati had a lot of options for the bullpen, so it was going to be a tough spring for anyone competing to win a spot. Misiewicz did what he could, though. He pitched in six games and allowed a run in just one of them. In total he threw 6.0 innings and allowed three hits, one run, walked two batters, and he fanned six of the 23 hitters that he faced in big league camp.

Those two moves put the Cincinnati Reds at 37 players remaining in big league camp. Two of those players are going to begin the season on the injured list with Hunter Greene recovering from surgery to clean up his elbow and expected to miss much of the first half of the season and reliever Caleb Ferguson dealing with a strained oblique. Two other players are not currently in Goodyear, but still technically “in camp” as Eugenio Suarez (Team Venezuela) and Kyle Nicolas (Team Italy) are still playing in the World Baseball Classic (and their teams face off tonight with the winner moving to the championship).