Jack Hannahan Completes The Long Road Back

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Jack Hannahan's last game was on September 29th against Pittsburgh during the Reds' final homestand.  Prior to that he hadn't played in eight days.

Hannahan will be in the lineup at firstbase, batting sixth for the Reds in the final game of the three-game series with the Washington Nationals.

Immediately after the season, Hannahan had surgery on his right shoulder.  He injured it in spring training last year but played the entire season with pain.

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Hannahan played in 83 games, hitting .216 with one home run and 15 RBI in 162 at-bats.  The Reds had signed him as a free agent to spell Joey Votto at firstbase and Todd Frazier at thirdbase but his effectiveness was limited.

Hannahan had several setbacks during his rehabilitation.  He was scheduled to go on a rehab assignment twice but plans were postponed.

The 34-year old with seven years of Major League experience played four games at Single A Dayton and eight games at Triple A Louisville.  Hannahan had 12 hits in 40 at-bats for an even .300 average.

"Just seeing pitches and been able to recognize pitches and getting your legs back under  you and playing," Hannahan said.  "It’s been like my spring training and everything that comes along with spring training. I went down there and a week and half in I started recognizing pitches better and started being able to put some good swings on balls. Everything’s feeling good. I’m excited to go out there and help these boys win.”

Hannahan's return allows the Reds to get closer to normal.

"The medical staff has signed off on it, so he's ready to go," Bryan Price said. "He's been swinging the bat well in Louisville. He's been playing firstbase but is still a work in progress as far as playing third.  First we wanted to get him at bats, then we wanted him to be comfortable at firstbase while he works on his arm strength."

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"Having Hannahan strengthens our bench.  It is not ideal for Lutz or Negron to break in as bench players.  It allows us to keep Frazier at third and not have to experiment with Bruce and Ludwig.  Now everyone thinks of Pena as a firstbaseman including me when he only had five appearances there before and some of those were late in the game for a couple innings.  We were thinking about Ondrusek there for awhile."

"It is not that these guys aren't going to play firesbase again but puts guys in their normal roles."