The Cincinnati Reds have lived with the ups and downs that come from using rookie starting pitchers to make 49 starts this season. For pitchers like Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo, adjustments have been part of a constant process.
If there’s another position where a rookie faces the biggest learning curve, it’s at catcher. Before the trade deadline, the Reds’ two catchers were rookies Michael Papierski and Mark Kolozsvary.
“Catching, not only do they have the hitting but handling of the pitching,” Reds manager David Bell said in July.