Sims 'ready to roll' following first outing

Lucas Sims’ intrasquad appearance Saturday confirmed what he and the Reds were hoping: The right-hander’s offseason elbow issues are well in the past.

The 26-year-old reliever, who figures to be a key part of the back end of Cincinnati’s bullpen this season, arrived at camp behind schedule after right elbow soreness in January forced him to pause his offseason throwing program. While he hasn’t experienced any setbacks since, Saturday marked Sims’ first time pitching in a game situation all spring.

It went about as well as he could have hoped. In an inning of work, Sims faced four of his teammates, starting with Kyle Farmer. After Farmer took him deep on the second pitch of the frame, Sims managed to settle in and retire the next three hitters, picking up a pair of strikeouts. Following his outing, Sims declared himself “ready to roll.”

“It felt really good,” said Sims. “I felt really sharp. Farm put a really good swing on the second pitch. I didn’t execute it very well, and it was kind of a poor sequence on my part, but a really good swing on his part. Other than that, I felt really sharp. I was making the right adjustments that I wanted to. I was getting the right action.”

A key adjustment centered on the curveball, which was the pitch Farmer homered off of. In the following at-bat, Sims used his fastball-slider mix before burying another curve to get the strikeout. Getting that pitch right is crucial for Sims, who used his curveball for put-away purposes more than the fastball or slider last season (30.4 percent, according to Statcast).

Coming off of a breakout 2020 campaign, Sims is hoping to be ready for Opening Day, now 12 days away. The next step for him will be to make his Cactus League debut, which is scheduled for Tuesday against the Padres in Peoria. Saturday was a good prelude to that.

“I was so happy and grateful to be back out there, be healthy, being able to still have that opportunity to go out there and compete,” said Sims. “There’s nothing like it.”

De León works it out

José De León continued his audition for the Reds’ rotation with his third start (fourth appearance) of the Cactus League slate, throwing 4 2/3 innings against the Brewers in a 4-1 Cincinnati loss Saturday night at Goodyear Ballpark. Coming off of two straight outings of three innings, De León was able to work deeper this time, striking out three batters (two looking) while being charged with four runs on three hits, three walks and two hit by pitches.

De León opened with a 10-pitch, 1-2-3 first, then labored through a 29-pitch second before rebounding nicely with quick third and fourth innings. The trick, according to De León, was getting out of his own head.

“I was thinking too much about my delivery,” De León said. “There’s something I’ve been working on with [pitching coach Derek Johnson], and it felt really good in the ‘pen, felt really good in the first inning. Then as soon as I walked the first guy, I started thinking too much. That’s something we talked about; that to be successful, you can’t think too much. Just execute pitches and trust everything.”

With two outs in the fifth and coming up against his pitch limit of 75, De León was lifted for a reliever, though he said postgame that he had more in the tank.

“I felt I could have finished that inning and maybe gone another one or two,” said De León. “Who knows? It felt good. It’s something that’s a step in the right direction.”

• De León adopts do-it-all attitude during camp

Prior to the game, manager David Bell praised the “tremendous strides” De León made during winter ball and in the work that he’s done this spring. Bell pointed to De León’s ability to persevere through trouble, as he did in Saturday’s start.

“When we acquired José, we knew that he was a unique talent -- pitch profile, ability, just a lot of different things,” said Bell. “Even when he's not at his best or at his most consistent, he can more than survive and have success just based on those things. … He continues to find ways to tweak his delivery, working really close with DJ. I watched a recent bullpen session. He's just doing really good work. It'll be fun to continue to watch him channel that and get to a point where he's able to channel it consistently.”

Saturday also marked De León’s first time hitting in a game since 2016. He struck out twice in as many at-bats, but he was happy enough to have made contact, even if it went foul.

“It’s always exciting when you hear the guys in the dugout rooting for you after a foul ball,” said De León. “I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when I put a ball in play. I asked David [Bell], ‘How did I look hitting?’ with a straight face, but he knew I was joking around. He said, ‘Your stance looked good.’ And I said, ‘That’s all I care about right now. Good pictures of [me] hitting, and that’s all I need.’”

Gray ahead of schedule
After mid-back spasms shut Sonny Gray down March 14 and put his Opening Day roster availability into question, the right-hander was feeling well enough to resume throwing Saturday. Bell emphasized that while the club doesn’t intend to rush Gray back to game action, the timeline thus far is encouraging.

“It's a great sign that he's recovered this fast and [his return] could be sooner than really even expected,” said Bell.