Bryan Price Impressed By Young Pitchers

Bryan Price hasn't seen this pair of young pitchers much, but Robert Stephenson and Michael Lorenzen have shown promise.

Price saw Stephenson in the instructional league in 2011.

"He was certainly very impressive and he's certainly taken his game to a new level since then with the year he had," Price said.

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Stephenson was selected by the Reds with their first pick in the 2011 draft.  Last season, he climbed through three minor league levels - Dayton, Bakersfield and Pensacola.  He started 14 games at Dayton with a 5-3 record; a 2.57 ERA.  In May, he was 5-0 with a 1.96 ERA.  Stephenson missed the Midwest League All-Star game with a hamstring injury.  Shortly after he recovered he was promoted to Bakersfield, where he made four starts, the 21-year old from Martinez, California, was 2-2 with a 3.05 ERA. Stephenson was 0-2 with a 4.86 ERA after being promoted again to Pensacola.

Stephenson's fastball has been clocked at 100 mph.  He was named the organization's minor league pitcher of the year.

"It is my first chance to really see him do the PFP stuff to see what kind of athlete he is," Price said.

Robert Stephenson at Dayton

Michael Lorenzen was a pitcher/outfielder at the California State - Fullerton.  The Reds took him in the Competitive Lottery Round last June.  He was the 38th overall pick in the draft.

Lorenzen was invited to camp as a non-roster player after he pitched in 22 games at four levels in his first professional year - Arizona Rookie League, Dayton, Bakersfield and Pensacola.  Overall, he was 1-1 with an even 3.00 ERA.

The Reds are committed to making Lorenzen a pitcher, although it hasn't determined if he will start or work out of the bullpen.

"Lorenzen is an athlete," Price said.  "I saw him on the short field.  He got out of alignment and Tony Cingrani told him that he needed to take a straight line.  The next three times he ran it were perfect.  He is an athlete learning to pitch.  I'm really happy with his progress."

Even though Lorenzen will be a pitcher, the Reds still want him to keep his other skills sharp.

Michael Lorenzen

"We don't want to deprive him of his athleticism.  We want him to maintain those skills.  Just like we use Mike Leake as a pitcher and pinch runner, we may use him that way," Price said.  "He will get to the point that he will have to handle the bat, field his position and get bunts down."

Tony Cingrani is working on more pitches.

Cingrani is working on a slider, cut fastball and curve.

"He has had a lot of success with just his fastball.  The thing with Tony is his success doesn't correlate with his velocity," Price said.  "He had days when he was at 90-92 but still had a lot of uncomfortable swings.  He reminds me of Sid Fernandez, who could throw the high fastball and get swings that missed."

Cingrani's slider has progressed the most.

"We don't want to change who he is," Price said.  "Still, we want him to develop that arsenal.  There will be days and he will have matchups where he will need to get hitters off the fastball."

Cingrani's success was more related to his back injury.  The rookie hid the strained back for three weeks before he finally told Dusty Baker and Price.

"We all impressed upon him, Dusty, Paul Lessard and Matt Krause, not to keep those things to himself.  You're not soft by going into the trainer.  He didn't want to be that rookie who was always in the training room.  I appreciate that but we have the best in the business at getting guys ready."

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