The Reds had message for their young starting pitching when last season ended: Get better.
That message was re-enforced during a pitching summit in Arizona in January. So it’s no coincidence that pitchers would most took that to heart won the race for the rotation.
Veteran Homer Bailey will be followed in the rotation by Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Sal Romano and Amir Garrett. None of the four has more than 16 big league starts.
Injuries to Anthony DeSclafani and Brandon Finnegan opened a couple of spots -- and Finnegan still could join the rotation by April 9 -- but the aforementioned four earned them with strong springs.