Why Josh Harrison thinks he can beat non-roster odds to go home again with Cincinnati Reds

GOODYEAR, Arizona — A 36-year-old infielder released by one team and pointed to the exit by another in the last seven months walks into a bar.

If that sounds like the start of a joke, change the bar to a big-league clubhouse. And then stock the place with more talented young infielders than maybe any other team in the league can claim.

And then pick it back up with the guy looking for a job and planning to play.

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Now you’ve got a punchline.

Except that Josh Harrison popped up in Arizona as serious as a scorpion bite.

And nobody who knows him is betting against one of Cincinnati’s own beating the non-roster odds to open the season with these playoff-minded Cincinnati Reds.

“Competition’s never scared me,” said the former Princeton High and Cincinnati Bearcats star. “It’s not the first non-roster deal I’ve signed.

“If anything it gives me more motivation, to be at home,” he said. “I’ve watched this team last year — I had a good opportunity to watch last year because I didn’t really play. So I know what they bring to the table. They’re full of energy. I’ve still got a lot of energy, and I can play this game, and I know I can help. It’s an opportunity I was willing to jump for.”

Since earning his big-league credentials with the Pirates for eight years, Harrison has bounced around the last five between the Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox and — last year — with the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers organizations.

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He was released by the Phillies in early August after just 40 games and hitting .204, signed a minor-league deal with the Rangers and then opted out two weeks later when a big-league call looked like it wouldn’t come.

But Harrison has at least two things on his side in this camp.

One, the guy with the high contact rate at the plate has the kind of legit defensive versatility that looks almost like a prerequisite for playing with the Reds these days — a second baseman who can also play third, first and in the outfield.

“Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve done it for a long time, playing a lot of positions,” he said. “It’s not something that I take lightly.”

And then there’s the second thing: Harrison has twice as many All-Star selections (2014, 2017) as all of the other 60-something guys in camp combined (closer Alexis Diaz last year).

“I mean, I wasn’t going to say it,” Harrison said. “But I was an All-Star utility guy. Maybe the first. But that’s all in the past.”

In the now, on this day, he showed up to the Reds’ facility looking fit enough to rival his All-Star physique from back in his Pirates days.

Then he went about meeting and greeting new teammates, coaches and even a few old friends — including Reds general manager Brad Meador, who was on the Bearcats coaching staff when Harrison played there.

If that’s not enough to make the Cincinnati native and resident feel at home with his hometown team, his older brother, Vince, is the new manager of the Reds’ high-A affiliate in Dayton.

“We know a lot about this guy,” Reds president Nick Krall said. “He’s a great guy, a great clubhouse guy, a great leader .And he’s been that his whole career.

“We tried to sign him in the past couple years, and it just hasn’t worked itself out. We’re just excited to have him in camp and see where it goes.”

His contract pays $1.5 million if he makes the club. And he has an out clause near the end of camp if the club hasn’t added him to the roster.

But that’s obviously not the way Harrison sees this playing out, especially given the “good timing” of his availability and the Reds offering a chance to earn a big-league job at home, where he and his wife’s two daughters are now 10 and 6.

“Timing’s everything,” he said. “Being able to come closer to home is something that words really can’t describe.”

How exactly Harrison might beat the roster numbers working against him is anything but certain.

But bet against him at your own peril — no joke.

“Like I said I’m not afraid of any competition,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Josh Harrison serious about chances to go home again with Reds