Notes: Franmil ready to play OF in NL parks

The Indians’ focus is on the task at hand, as the club arrived in Chicago for a four-game series against the White Sox on Monday. But in a stretch of 10 games without a day off, it’s impossible not to plan ahead.

With three games slated to be played in a National League park this weekend in Cincinnati, what will Cleveland do about losing Franmil Reyes’ DH spot? Indians manager Terry Francona said the slugger has been taking some fly balls in the outfield so he's ready (most likely in right field).

“We also have [right fielder Josh] Naylor taking ground balls at first, just so -- depending on how guys are swinging the bat -- we don’t have to change the lineup,” Francona said. “So we tried to cover everything we could. My guess is you’ll see a combination of guys over the weekend. You don’t want anybody to go -- we have a day off after -- you don’t want anybody to go four days without playing, so we’ll probably mix and match a little bit.”

The Indians would’ve preferred to get Reyes some more time in the outfield during Spring Training, but he had sprained an ankle just a few weeks before camp got underway, so the team decided to play it safe and keep him out of the field as much as possible. But because he’s been so hot at the plate, it would be difficult for the Indians to have to keep him on the bench for three consecutive games against the Reds, starting on Friday. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Reyes thrown into right field at least once during the series.

After going 6-for-11 with five RBIs against the Tigers at Progressive Field, Reyes said he couldn’t believe how well he’s seeing the ball at the plate.

“Every time I’m facing any pitcher, it’s totally different now how I see the ball travel more and recognize what is hanging, what is away, what is in,” Reyes said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s a good feeling.”

Coco named Mahoning Valley manager
Major League Baseball announced on Monday afternoon that former Indians outfielder Coco Crisp will manage the Scrappers in the inaugural MLB Draft League this season. Crisp was a high school baseball coach in California for a few seasons before he joined the A’s radio broadcast team in 2019. He’s currently a bench coach at Cerritos College in Norwalk, Calif.

“Oh, he doesn’t need my advice,” Francona said. “I did see that and was thrilled about it. When guys like Coco stay in the game, there’s gonna be some lucky young kids that get a chance to play for him. And I know it’s, what, a two-month league or 60 games, but I’m glad. I hope I get a chance to run into him. He kind of brings a smile to everybody’s face.”

Alternate training site schedule
The Indians released the rest of the April schedule for the players at their alternate training site in Columbus on Monday.

The squad will have 16 more exhibition games (nine against Louisville, four against Indianapolis, two against Toledo and one against Northwest Arkansas) from Tuesday until the May 4 Triple-A opener.