Under first-year manager David Bell, it’s clear the Reds want to embrace analytics and they want to introduce some changes to the way they conduct Spring Training once pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, Arizona, next week.

One of the clearest changes will be their daily schedule. Bell wants players to show up a little later to the ballpark, putting an extra emphasis on their sleep schedules.

“It’s not too much later, but if you can shift it just 30 minutes or an hour, guys get an extra hour of sleep,” Bell said. “We all know how important sleep is. It’s not going to cut down on any work. It’ll actually help us be very focused on doing the same amount of work, if not more, in a shorter period of time.”

Bell said he embraced all the information and analytics available to players and staff members when he was the San Francisco Giants’ farm director last year. That means trying to use spin rates and launch angles to their advantage, plus learning how players could benefit from more information about their sleep and nutrition.

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The Reds hired data-driven coaches like Caleb Cotham (assistant pitching coach) and Donnie Eckert (assistant hitting coach) with a goal of communicating analytical information directly to players.

“A lot of really good things are happening,” Bell said last month. “Some things that we can see like the trades and that, but also just the little things behind the scenes that we’re working on every single day. Our coaching staff, we’re talking every day. It’s the offseason. We know we have a lot to accomplish. There’s definitely a commitment to doing everything we can.”

Bell, who will lead an 11-man coaching staff, wanted to build a staff with different perspectives. He said the goal is to see the “whole picture” for players.

“The information and the analytics is one very important piece,” Bell said. “The last few years, I knew getting into an opportunity like this – or even last year in player development – that has to be a piece of it. To have the resources to be able to bring in somebody like that or multiple people, we’d be missing out if we didn’t do it.”

Bell said he started to incorporate analytics into his daily routine when he joined the St. Louis Cardinals as an assistant hitting coach in 2014 and it continued when he was Mike Matheny’s bench coach from 2015-17. Through a later start to the day in Spring Training, Bell hopes to create an advantage for his players.

Once the season begins, it’s possible there could be more changes to the way they prepare for games.

“I think we are the only sport that plays a game every single night and practices every day before that game,” Bell said. “And we do it like two hours before the game. There's a place for that, but there's also maybe a place to find ways to improve that and make sure guys are not only rested and healthy, but practicing in a way that they're getting better, as well.”

HIGHLY RANKED: Several publications that cover minor league baseball released their preseason Top 100 prospects rankings within the last two weeks.

Four Reds prospects, infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel, outfielder Taylor Trammell, right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene and infielder Jonathan India were ranked in the Top 100 by Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN. Right-handed pitcher Tony Santillan made the Baseball America and ESPN lists.

ESPN rated the Reds as the sixth-best farm system in baseball, which is the same spot it held last year.

Baseball America – Senzel (10th overall), Trammell (33), India (51), Greene (57), Santillan (69).

MLB.com – Senzel (6), Trammell (17), Greene (22), India (51).

Baseball Prospectus – Senzel (9), Trammell (11), India (35), Greene (75).

ESPN – Senzel (6), Trammell (12), Greene (16), India (76), Santillan (83).