Daniel Corcino Fights His Way To Big Leagues

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He is only 23, so it was just a matter of time but Daniel Corcino had to shake off a very tough season before he got the call.

Corcino was the top starting pitching prospect before the Reds drafted Robert Stephenson and Michael Lorenzen.  Three years a ago, in his first Major League spring training camp, Corcino could be seen with either Mario Soto or Johnny Cueto at any given time.

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Soto would tap a writer on the shoulder and point out Corcino as the rising pitching star.

Corcino was rapidly promoted to Louisville for the start of the 2013 season and struggled.  He was 7-14, tied for the most losses in the International League with a gaudy 5.86 ERA.

His 2014 spring was rough too. Corcino was sent back a rung to Double A Pensacola, where he was 10-11 with a more respectable 4.13 ERA.

"I forgot about last year and decided to work hard every day," Corcino said. "I never got disappointed. This game will turn.  I talked to Mario after Carlos Contreras was picked to join the Reds.  He told me not to worry and to keep doing what I'm doing."

The Blue Wahoo's had just finished a game in Jacksonville, Florida and boarded the bus for the 350 mile trip across I-10 on Thursday night.

Pensacola manager, Delino Deshields made a crack about a 3:00 o'clock workout when the bus was due to arrive at 4:00 a.m.

"Everybody laughed," Corcino said. "Then he told me I was going to Cincinnati. I said, "Are you playing with me/" He said, "I wouldn't do that." I was so excited."

Corcino got off the bus with the team then got on a 9:00 a.m. flight, arriving at Great American Ball Park at 5:00 p.m. with no sleep.

"It was a long day but I was warming up in the 11th inning," Corcino said.

"We wanted to give him a soft landing by getting him into a game when it wasn't on the line," Bryan Price said.  "We don't always have it work out that way for us."

Corcino would have been called upon if the extra-inning game went any farther.  He had last pitched as a starter on Sunday, pitching seven innings.

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"It would have been on his turn.  He was going to stay out there for awhile," Price said.

Justin Upton's two-run home run off Manny Parra in the 12th inning made the point mute.

Corcino, who turns 24 on Tuesday, will be the fourth player to make his Major League debut this season along with Tucker Barnhart, Jumbo Diaz and Contreras.

"I am excited to be here," Corcino said. "I thank God for the opportunity."