It’s rare these days that you see teams willing to roll out rookies in their Opening Day lineup. They won’t admit to it, of course, but service time manipulation has long been a reason to hold players back for just a couple of weeks to ensure they’re around for a seventh season down the road.
Props to the Cincinnati Reds in this instance for avoiding the obvious financial ramifications while in camp in Goodyear, AZ this spring, and for noticing a certain je ne sais quoi around infielder Jonathan India. They saw he deserved a spot in the big leagues right that very moment, and unleashed him onto the baseball world as early as they possibly could.