Why these 5 Cincinnati Reds are must-see viewing as Cactus League schedule opens

GOODYEAR, Arizona — If you can get past the new, crappy uniforms that players across baseball have ripped since spring training started, there’s plenty to see — especially for Cincinnati Reds fans — when they actually start playing Cactus League games.

And that doesn’t even count those see-through pants that come with the new unis.

Can local, non-roster guy Josh Harrison — who owns two of the scant three career All-Star selections earned by the 62 players in Reds camp combined — pull off the upset and win what might be one available bench job?

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Will veteran swingman Nick Martinez, whose free agent deal pays him $14 million this season (no Reds pitcher makes more), win the last rotation job or become the most expensive reliever in the division?

What will that new veteran switch-hitting infielder, Jeimer Candelario look like?

And what about all these so-called new, transformative pitches that $53 million ace Hunter Greene is working on this spring (He starts Sunday’s spring home opener against the Angels)?

All good, interesting questions for the 30-game spring schedule underway Saturday against Cleveland.

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But the these are the big ones — the five key Reds players to watch in Cactus League play for what their performances might say about how much they’ll help the Reds’ effort to pick up where they left off last season and reach October:

IF/OF Jonathan India

India’s storyline is one of the Reds’ most intriguing of the spring, if only to watch for how many positions the former Rookie of the Year and three-year Reds second baseman plays. It’s especially worth watching to see how often he plays in the outfield and what he looks like in a position area he’s learning to play for the first time in his life at any level — something he’ll probably have to do often this season to get the playing time he wants this year. Unless . . .

2B/SS Matt McLain

. . . The projected Opening Day second baseman already is dealing with an oblique issue that has him shut down this week. He still has plenty of time to get ready for the season, and the expectation is he’ll be full-go by then. But obliques tend to be tricky, and he missed the end of last season with a more serious oblique strain near the area of this tightness. It’s at least a reminder that things tend to happen over the course of a long season that alter even the best-laid plans.

RHP Frankie Montas

The new guy in the rotation has been ahead of everybody else in camp with his throwing program when since he got to Arizona and has said his shoulder feels as good as it ever has after missing almost all of last year rehabbing from shoulder surgery. When he’s been healthy in his career, Montas has been one of the better starters in baseball. His first Cactus League start comes Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

LHP Nick Lodolo

Lodolo’s been on his own, deliberate program monitored by the medical staff as he comes off a tibia stress fracture that wiped out nearly his whole 2023 season. Late in the week manager David Bell sounded optimistic about his progress toward being ready for a turn in the season’s first rotation: “He’s doing great. His lower body’s responding well to everything he’s done so far. So he’s right on track.” Lodolo isn’t among the five slotted to start the first five Cactus League games, but he shouldn’t be far behind them, barring a setback.

SS/3B Elly De La Cruz

Hard to imagine all eyes in Arizona wouldn’t already be on one of the most exciting young players in the game — especially if you parked your car anywhere near a field he might be hitting on (just ask teammate Hunter Greene). But for those rooting for a big Reds season this year, keep an eye how an offseason of hitting work and shorter leg kick translates at the plate this spring as he tries to prove he’s fixed the problems behind all those swings and misses after the All-Star break (36-percent strikeout rate) during a .191 second half.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The 5 most important Cincinnati Reds to watch as spring games start