David Bell's past experience with players are coming into play as the Reds try to fill out their opening day roster.
Bell was with San Francisco when Aramis Garcia was a top prospect for the Giants. Garcia was brought in to compete with Andrew Knapp for the job of backing up Tyler Stephenson at the catching position..
Brandon Drury was signed on March 21 after camp started. He has seven years of major league experience.
"I feel like I know him," Bell said. "He had a relationship with my brother, Mike, with the Diamonbacks."
Both homered on Friday against the Los Angeles Angels with Garcia putting up his second two-home run game which increased his total to five for the spring.
Kyle Farmer will start as the every day shortstop but the Reds brought in Donovan Solano from the Giants tow back him up. Solono has a hamstring injury that will prevent him from starting the season. Jose Barrero was to be the backup but he needed surgery to repair the hook of the hamate on his left hand. He will be out four more weeks at least.
Matt McClain was sent to the minors and is very talented but is not quite ready for the big leagues especially in a backup role. He needs to play full time.
That leaves Drury who has only nine games at shortstop on his seven-year resume. He last played the position in 2020, logging two games.
"He is a hard nosed player," Bell said. "He is really determined to make the team."
To that end, Drury homered in the game against the Angels on Friday and sits with a .333 average for the spring.
The catching position is critical too. The Reds will have as many as three rookies with a total of two big league starts both of them by Reiver Sanmartin. A veteran catcher like Knapp will be important at handling a young pitching staff. Knapp had five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, catching 309 games but his offense is lacking with a .214 career average.
Garcia has 48 games under his belt in three seasons behind the plate. He is working with J.R. House to improve his defensive skills.
Bell plans to make his decision by Sunday.
Both feel like they have a good opportunity to make the Reds and familiarity with Bell and the Reds' staff are advantages.
"It has been good getting all my work in at second, third and short. I'm putting in extra work at short," Drury said. "Short is different with different responsibilities. The Reds seamed pretty interested in me."
"Mike Bell is one of the most important people besides my dad to get me to the big leagues," Drury said. "He was my farm director when I got traded over there. We had a pretty special bond. He gave me every opportunity."
"Coming into this spring I felt really prepared," Garcia said. "I went to the DR (Dominican Republic) to play. I started my progressions early. It was going to be hard to make this team. I tried to come in as prepared as possible. I feel like performance so far is the result of that."
Garcia came to the minor league camp in mid February.
"This is something I wanted for awhile," Garcia said. "David Bell was the farm director for the Giants. A lot of the staff he had there is here. They were in the minor leagues when I was with San Francisco. When the opportunity to possibly play for them again came, I didn't pass it up. I played a lot against JR (House) and the teams he managed. I could tell the players just loved him. I loved the staff but I truly believe they could make me a better baseball player. I only had around 200 at bats last year and I just needed to play."
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