How will Cincinnati Reds answer the four burning questions they face at spring training?

Did the Cincinnati Reds do enough during their $108 million offseason to make up the difference between just falling short last year and actually making the playoffs this year?

How many of last year’s promising rookies become this year’s sophomore sensations during another competitive run?

Is this the year Hunter Greene breaks out?

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The answers to all those burning questions will have to wait until after the season starts March 28.

But as Reds pitchers and catchers report for spring training Tuesday, at least a few very big questions need answers over these next few weeks.

Four of the biggest ones:

1. How does the young, overstocked Cincinnati Reds infield shake out?

Some of this has already been answered with Spencer Steer moving to a full-time outfield role, Jonathan India being asked to take on a hybrid infield-outfield role and manager David Bell saying throughout the offseason he plans to continue a policy of liberally rotating versatile players around the field.

So who exactly starts where on Opening Day is less important than who’s in that opening rotation and where veteran additions such as corner infielder Jeimer Candelario and even Josh Harrison — the former All-Star invited to camp after signing a minor-league deal — might fit.

Keep your eye on perhaps the most talented player on the roster, shortstop/third baseman Elly De La Cruz, who also was the most strikeout-prone as a rookie last year.

He’s one of four infielders — among six in play for significant infield roles — who debuted last season, an extreme level of youth that by definition makes this the most volatile, least bankable position area.

In fact, the least experienced of that young group is also the one who suffered a significant hamstring injury during winter ball: Noelvi Marte. He’s expected to be ready for Opening Day, but might have his early workload monitored more closely as camp opens.

2. Do the Cincinnati Reds have too many starting pitchers?

Bwahahahahahaha.

As team president Nick Krall and most of his peers love to say, there’s no such thing as too much pitching.

Any Reds fans who didn’t believe that before 2023 learned it the hard way when the Reds’ surprising run into contention ground to an agonizing halt in September because they couldn’t find enough starting pitching to finish the job. That’s why Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez are in the house on $42 million worth of combined free agent deals.

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The Reds’ Big Three rotation rookies of 2022 (Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo) combined for nine months of injured list time in 2023. So the health of those three — especially Lodolo, who missed five months with a stress fracture in his leg — might be the most important element of this spring’s prep work for the season.

Check that. Add a fourth pitcher to that all-important health-watch list in the newly inked Montas, a rising star in the game until a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery derailed last season and much of 2022.

All four — including Greene (core issues, COVID in 2023) and Ashcraft (broken toe) — all appear to be healthy entering camp.

And if it stays that way, it should create a robust fifth-starter battle between Martinez and impressive 2023 rookies Andrew Abbott and Brandon Williamson.

3. How low can they go?

In age and service time.

Last year the Reds had a whopping 16 prospects make major-league debuts, and six played big enough roles to assure places in this year’s plans.

The consensus among industry experts is that the Reds’ farm system still boasts a top-10 collection of talent even with those graduations.

So who’s next? Edwin Arroyo — maybe the best shortstop in the organization — reached Double-A last year to put himself on the doorstep. Pitcher Chase Petty and outfielders Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn join him in camp with a chance to at least make an impression for big-league look during the season.

And keep an eye on left-hander Jacob Heatherly, a 2017 third-round Reds draft pick, who was derailed by injuries for nearly four years before bouncing back last year with more velocity, an enormous strikeout rate and a 2.72 ERA at three minor-league levels. The Reds brought him back as a minor-league free agent this year.

Where any of these guys might find a fit on a roster that looks well stocked heading to camp could be the bigger question.

4. How much will they miss Joey Votto?

Forget what the former MVP did for 17 years on the field for the Reds. Almost every young player from last year’s breakthrough core has a story about Votto’s influence behind the scenes on their success.

“I picked my spots to really just try to chop it up with him and pick his brain on certain things. That won’t be there for me,” said young outfielder Will Benson. “I don’t think he realizes it — or maybe he does, but he tries to downplay it every time I tell him. But he was very instrumental in my success and what I did, for sure.”

A lot of Votto’s influence on this core came during his 10-month rehab from shoulder surgery while those players were in the minors — including Benson, who raked after an early season demotion last year.

The training wheels come off this year in several ways for this team. And the clubhouse has few grizzled veterans to set the guideposts.

That’s a big part of why Candelario was brought in. And getting that two-year deal done Friday to avoid the typically contentious arbitration hearing with clubhouse influencer Jonathan India looks even more important in this context.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The 4 burning questions Cincinnati Reds face in Arizona this spring