Zach Buchanan

zbuchanan@enquirer.com

CHICAGO – Ted Power admits that he wondered if he’d ever leave Louisville. Before being elevated to big-league bullpen coach in the wake of the Cincinnati Reds firing pitching coach Mark Riggins, the 61-year-old Power had spent the last 11 seasons as pitching coach for the Triple-A Louisville Bats. He’d coached in the Reds’ minor-league system since 2000.

Power was interviewed for the big-league pitching coach job before this season, but was passed over in favor of Riggins, who’d been the minor-league pitching instructor the past four years. That was as close as he got until he arrived in the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.

“You have to wonder,” Power said. “I’d had interviews for major-league jobs. But I was resolved to the point and happy with it that if this was where I was supposed to be, this is where I’m going to be. My life is very good anyway so I’m not going to complain about coaching in Triple-A and helping guys get over that hump.”

Now he’s over the hump himself, the next step in what has to be one of the longer coaching journeys in today’s baseball landscape. He’ll assist new pitching coach Mack Jenkins in the effort to get Cincinnati’s young pitchers back on track.

Power is familiar with most of them. He’s worked with every player that’s come through the Reds’ system for more than the last decade. As manager Bryan Price pointed out, coaching at Triple-A can be harder than other levels since the roster can sometimes be populated by players either incensed by a demotion from the majors or irked that they’ve yet to be called up.

Power has learned to threat those players with a mutual respect rather than act like a drill sergeant.

“My style is I just throw stuff at them, and if something sticks and it works for them, great,” he said. “If not, we’ll try something else. Or I’ll ask another pitching coach or I’ll ask another pitcher, ‘How do you do this or that?’ It’s a matter of communication. I think you’ve got to be a little bit of a humble person, too, to be able to relate to these guys and not be overbearing. Not load them up with too much information.”

Despite so much time in Louisville, Power never let things feel too permanent. He spends his offseasons in Sarasota, Fla., and for the last five years crashed at the house of one of the Bats’ team doctors during the season.

After changing teams eight times in 13 years as a player in the major leagues, the predictability probably had some benefits. But he’s not upset to be on the move again.

“I’m sure this is a big moment,” Price said. “I know it is because we’ve talked about it. It’s a big moment for him and his family.”

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Managing innings

The Reds haven’t set their rotation for the upcoming weekend series against the Miami Marlins, and will use their off day Thursday along with the All-Star Break to shuffle the order of their rotation. The goal is to preserve innings for the young starters who need it the most.

Innings are not a concern for left-hander John Lamb and right-handers Anthony DeSclafani and Dan Straily. Lamb and DeSclafani missed big chunks of time due to injury, and Straily has handled a full season’s workload before.

That leaves left-handers Brandon Finnegan and Cody Reed. Reed topped out at 145 2/3 innings in the minors last year and is on track to surpass that by a manageable 25 innings or so. Finnegan, however, is in his first full year as a starter and topped out at just shy of 130 innings last year.

“Finnegan, having pitched primarily out of the bullpen last year, will probably be from our group the biggest concern,” Price said.