GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- After veteran left-handed starting pitcher Mike Minor was traded to the Reds from the Royals on Wednesday for reliever Amir Garrett, it didn’t take long for him to arrive and participate in a workout with his new team. Kansas City trains less than 30 minutes away in Surprise, Ariz.

Minor, who will earn $10 million in 2022, will be part of Cincinnati’s rotation.

Here are five things learned about Minor on Thursday:

As a teenager, Minor first met current Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson.
Minor grew up in Chapel Hill, Tenn., south of Nashville, and went to Forrest High School. One of the college recruiters that helped get him to play for Vanderbilt was Johnson, who was the school’s pitching coach at the time.

Minor pitched for the Commodores from 2007-09 -- including one year with former Reds pitcher Sonny Gray -- before he was the seventh overall pick by the Braves in the 2009 Draft.

“We always had respect for each other and that’s never changed no matter how good or how bad we are,” Minor said of Johnson. “That’s something that’s good to have. He’s a great person.”

Minor says Johnson won’t see a much different style of pitching from him than he saw at Vanderbilt.
“He knows the repertoire of what I have and my changeup being my best pitch,” Minor said. “We talked earlier about what I can throw on certain sides of the plate, can I locate certain pitches. That was the conversation. Everything is similar, he won’t have to dig up anything because we know each other and what I have. The process of talking back and forth will be easy.”

Minor currently resides in Knoxville, Tenn., not far from Reds center fielder Nick Senzel.
“We train together. I threw to him, some other guys [in the offseason],” Minor said.

Minor, 34, is comfortable being a veteran in a younger rotation.
During his career, Minor has pitched for the Braves, Royals (two stints), Rangers and A’s.

“Over the last few years, it’s weird, I felt like a young guy, and then it became, ‘You’re old now,’” Minor said. “It’s transitioning to being that veteran guy. I got 10 years last year, I still feel like I’m in Atlanta. I still talk about those days like it was yesterday. I have lessons I learned back then that I carry with me today.

"I don’t mind it. I’ve transitioned this offseason working with 25-year-olds. I felt like I was the same age, but I’m clearly not. A lot of those guys should have known things that they didn’t. You’d be surprised with how much you accumulate things over the years. You forget. I took that to heart this offseason.”

Minor is looking to make adjustments following a subpar 2021 season.
In 2019 with the Rangers, Minor was an All-Star while going 14-10 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 32 starts and 208 1/3 innings. In 28 starts last season for Kansas City, he was 8-12 with a 5.05 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 28 starts and 158 2/3 innings.

“There are things I need to change, but it’s mostly game planning,” Minor said. “Deciding which pitch I’m throwing and to which side of the plate. I felt like I could have done a lot better with that, and I feel like there might be some flaws in my mechanics. I’ve already talked to D.J. about that, and we’re discussing it and going in further depth as I get settled.”

Minor felt that he pitched right-handed hitters inside too often and became more predictable.

“I liked to pound righties in and lefties away, and I hit that side of the strike zone way too often and that’s what I want to change,” he said. “I want to be more even across the plate with every pitch. Backdoor slider, front-door changeups, fastballs away. I got to one side of the plate and when I made a mistake, I got hit a lot more than when you make a mistake and you’re well rounded around the plate, then maybe they miss that pitch.”