Raisel Iglesias will start for Reds Sunday

The Reds are listing Sunday's starting pitcher against the St. Louis Cardinals as TBA, as in To Be Announced.

That's not the case: Cuban right-hander Raisel Iglesias will get the start barring anything unforeseen.

"It should be Iglesias penciled in there," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "That's just an omission. Not for any reason other than he's omitted. He's still eligible to pitch from our bullpen if we need him before that game. With rain in the forecast, you never know how many times we could start and stop. We have every intention of starting him on Sunday."

Catcher and fellow Cuban Brayan Pena thinks Iglesias, 25, is ready to be a good major league pitcher.

"He has a lot of talent," Pena said. "He's one of those guys that wants to go out there and compete, and he's not shy from a competition level. He's very young. He's one of those guys that is still learning a lot.

"Devin (Mesoraco) and I were having a conversation the other day. We were talking about how he can really help us. He really knows how to pitch. He uses all of his pitches in any count. He's not afraid to use his off-speed when behind in the count. That says a lot about a guy that knows what he's doing out there. The only thing he needs to do is learn a little bit about the league and adjust. That's what Devin and I are here to do: to help him."

BYRD DEFENSE: Price was expecting to get good defense from Marlon Byrd in left field. Byrd made a leaping catch at the wall on Opening Day on Polanco's drive.

"I was thought it was sound," Price said. "We saw it a lot when he was with the Cubs. I've seen a lot of Marlon Byrd, so I've never, ever seen him as anything other than a very solid Major League outfielder defensively. That play he made could have very well been a game-saver for us.

"Doing it in left field — he hadn't played there since the minor leagues, I know he came up a left fielder, but he hadn't been out there regularly until this spring, made it that much more impressive."