Suárez's body and mind both at full strength

CINCINNATI -- Like teammate Nick Senzel, Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez used his quarantine time to get his surgically-repaired right shoulder ready for the pushed back Opening Day.

Suárez was iffy for March 26 but reported to Summer Camp in shape and feeling 100 percent. He will certainly be ready for the Reds' new Opening Day, set for July 24 vs. the Tigers at Great American Ball Park.

“I feel very good. I did a really good job in my home with my rehab,” Suárez said on Monday. “My body feels great. My shoulder feels very good. More important to me is my mind. When my mind feels strong, I think everything else feels very good. I’m happy to be here back home in Cincinnati and put everything together on the field and see what happens this year. I feel so good to be around my teammates.”

Suárez, who hit 49 home runs with 103 RBIs in 2019, but had surgery on Jan. 28 to remove loose cartilage following a fall in the shallow end of his pool at home. He was set to make his spring debut on March 13 as the designated hitter, but the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended MLB Spring Training.

“I don’t think I would have missed much games, maybe the first three games at home,” Suárez said. “I believed I’d be ready for Opening Day, but I don’t know. My shoulder at that time didn’t feel 100 percent. I did not throw hard at all.”

During the time away from the game, Suárez worked out at home in South Florida with Major Leaguers like Cleveland’s César Hernández and Milwaukee’s Avisail Garcia, as well as players from his home country of Venezuela.

Suárez remained disciplined about fitness so he wouldn’t be behind when the team gathered together again on Friday.

“[I did] not eat a lot of Venezuelan food. That was my biggest thing,” Suárez said. “I tried to be [in] shape. I practiced every day. I was doing my routine, my workout, my shoulder. I did ground balls and was hitting very good. I live in Miami. The weather is very good to work out and I did my normal practice -- ground balls, hit on the field, my shoulder program and everything made me feel in shape to be ready for this time now.”

Playing catch not ‘ruff’ for Garrett
Reds reliever Amir Garrett kept a low profile during the forced time off and wasn’t around many others. That meant he had to get creative with his throwing.

“My dad has a health issue, so I didn’t want to put him in jeopardy. I have nieces and nephews and stuff like that. I didn’t want to put them in jeopardy,” Garrett said of his strict social distancing on Monday. “The whole time I was pretty much throwing with my neighbor. We were around each other the whole time. I was throwing in the backyard. My fiancé and my sister helped me. My dog helped me. I’d throw the ball and he’d fetch it back for me. For the most part, it was just me and the net.

“That was my way of getting ready because I wanted to do my part and stay out of the public, social distancing as much as I could.”

Garrett has a pair of pit bulls, Dash and Dozer, that he often posts about on social media.