With a young and improving pitching staff the Cincinnati Reds need bench help more than anything else to improve this season from non-roster players. The Reds invited three catchers, four infielders and five outfielders to spring training this year. They also invited twelve non-roster pitchers.
The player most likely to make the roster is infielder Cliff Pennington. He is a career .243 batter with an OBP of .310. He is an average MLB defender at second, third, and short.
The player that is directly challenging Pennington is Phil Gosselin. He has to prove that he can hit and field consistently at the MLB level.