Paul White

USA TODAY Sports

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – It's a peculiar place, the back fields at a spring training complex.

The focal point usually is four fields fanned out around a two-story observation building/deck, which just happens to be the only place for relief from the relentless sun -- unless you're fortunate enough to be allowed in the chain-link-fence bench areas (can't be dugouts if nobody's put a shovel to the desert floor, right).

On one field this day, Reds pitcher Homer Bailey would start a game against a Dodgers farm club. On the next field, teammate Mat Latos would do the same against a different Dodgers group and Jonathon Broxton, potential Reds replacement closer while Aroldis Chapman is recovering from his horrific line drive to the face, would relieve him.

These were Class AA and AAA games – how the minor leaguers play their exhibition schedule. On any given day, the AA and AAA teams play at one site, the two levels of Class A somewhere else.

For the record, Bailey got the AAA game, not that it matters much, but he also is closer to being major league ready, most likely slotting into the opening week rotation after dealing with a groin strain.

Latos is one of a half-dozen or so Reds heading for the disabled list this week – Broxton, too – though April returns are likely. Latos is on the way back from knee and elbow surgeries, Broxton from forearm surgery.

These are what managers and general managers like to call a "controlled situation." They can even arbitrarily end an inning before it would be over – had they been strictly following the rules of baseball – just because they don't want the pitcher throwing any more pitches that inning.

Not all minor league exhibition games are distorted that way, but when a major leaguer is getting some work – usually coming back from injury – all bets are off. You could see Matt Kemp lead off every inning one day, another rehabbing player get eight at-bats but only play the field for a couple of innings.

Teams also hide pitchers in these games, often because they don't want them in regular spring games against division opponents, the teams they'll face most often during the season.

It's a tricky business, putting the players in the controlled situation but outside the optimum environment.

"Mound's terrible out there," Latos said after throwing 43 pitches. "Landing spot's going uphill. Once I got adjusted to the way it was, kind of shortened my stride a little bit so I could get over top of the ball."

He got his work in, found his velocity is normal and moved on waiting for the next step.

"Puppet on a string," he joked, knowing he needs at least a couple more steps. "Whatever string they pull."

This day was all about trying to line up a roster with Opening Day looming.

The milling onlookers, often straining in hopes of seeing both fields at once, included a mix of scouts, coaches, minor leaguers not in the games, former big league GMs Cam Bonifay and Bill Bavasi (both in the Reds front office these days) and the Latos family.

It's not often three of the major league club's top dozen pitchers are back there at the same time.

"That's not good, is it?" Bailey said after a smooth 76 pitches. He was referring to the Reds' injury issues that created this mini-event.

Latos plus nearly half the bullpen – Chapman, Broxton and Sean Marshall – won't be ready for Opening Day, plus utility men Jack Hannahan and Skip Schumaker. Catcher Devin Mesoraco might not make it either.

Perhaps the brightest spot was the next day, when Opening Day starter Johnny Cueto came out of a similar outing ready for the season. He had missed some time with some irritation in his scapula, something manager Bryan Price says probably wouldn't have been enough to keep him out a game during the season.

"It wasn't because he couldn't pitch with it," Price says. "It's because we didn't want him to have to pitch with it throughout the early course of the season until we're able to get it under control. A starting pitcher, you want them to go into the season at 100 percent."

Something the Reds as a team can only wish for right now.

It's a sprint, too

The Reds are more fortunate than several teams they've run into this spring – they've run into a spate of injuries, but most of those players should be back relatively soon.

The one exception of Chapman, their closer, who could miss a couple of months – not to mention the unknowns surrounding how he'll react on the mound after his injury.

Still, Price is trying not to get caught up in feeling too good about getting off lighter than a lot of other decimated clubs.

"I don't want to sacrifice the first week of the season with a lesser club," Price says.

It's not uncommon for teams to almost shrug off key players missing only a few days at the start of the season but he also understands the long-term value of making sure players don't rush back and turn a short-term ailment into bigger trouble.

But Price also knows how tough the NL Central is – the Reds were one of three teams from the division in last year's playoffs.

One of the others, Pittsburgh, went 1-5 in the first week of last season. The Pirates lost the division to St. Louis by three games. Think the first week doesn't matter?

"With the way things have gone this spring," Price says, "if we can control it in any way, shape or form, we want to try to make sure as many guys as possible start the season 100% healthy instead of kind of limping our way in there and hoping to get healthy over the course of the season. We have enough of those guys now that we're trying to manage that."

And it's not easy to convince players to point out what might seem like minor bumps or soreness, especially when they see the team already shorthanded.

"You come into professional baseball and you don't want to set up shop in the trainer's room," Price says. "But we have all this state of the art equipment and these great minds."

His one big challenge will be sorting out the bullpen, with his three most like closers – Chapman, Broxton and Marshall – all out. And that affects role throughout the pitching staff.

"Just trying to get the right mix out there," Price says. "We'll still have 80% of our rotation and we're still running out some premium (bullpen) guys, some guys that are coming off great success – especially with (Sam) LeCure, (J.J.) Hoover, Manny Parra, and we're still deciding on what we want to do with (Alfredo) Simon, if he's a better piece as a bullpen piece as opposed to a starter."

The Reds need a fifth start only once before about April 15, which is why Simon could relieve.

"Considering not having Chapman, not having Marshall or Broxton to start the season, he could help influence that back end of those ballgames quite well," Price says.

"Those are the challenges," he says "I just don't see where we can't weather this storm. We have good players.(Other than) the question mark of Mesoraco, our everyday lineup is intact. Our bench will still be strong, even minus Schumaker. We'll weather the storm missing a couple of starts with Latos."

Worth noting, though: Six of the Reds' first nine games are against the Cardinals and the six after that are three each with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

Could be quite a storm to weather.

Billy Ball

Only Billy Hamilton – with some assistance from major league pitchers – can settle the raging debate about arguably the fastest man in baseball.

Can he get to first base often enough to terrorize the rest of the route around the basepaths?

You can get in on a wager at a Las Vegas sports book that also gives some indication. The over-under on Hamilton's stolen bases this season is 63 ½.

So, what's that tell us?

Hamilton has 75 steals at Class AAA Louisville last year. He got on base via hit or walk (never was hit by a pitch) 167 times. Throw in random events like reaching on errors or force plays – who's more likely to beat out an attempted double play? – and Hamilton was on base probably in the neighborhood of 190 times.

Of course, people were on base ahead of him sometimes, but that's a factor that probably remains relatively static wherever he plays, and he had 28 extra-base hits. But, just roughly, Hamilton stole a base about every 2 ½ times he was on base.

That 63 ½ over-under guesstimate would put him on base roughly 160 times. Even if every one of those times was a hit – not gonna happen – and he got the roughly 650 at-bats an everyday leadoff hitter can expect, that gives Hamilton a .246 batting average. So, Vegas is thinking something under that number.

It's not scientific, but it gives you a rough idea.

Now, 64 steals (if you're inclined to take the over) would be the most steals in the National League since Willy Taveras had 68 for the Rockies in 2008. Willy hit .251 that season – nowhere close to his .320 as a part-timer the previous year – with an uninspiring .308 on- base percentage and .296 slugging that made him one of those rare players with higher on-base than slugging.

It only got worse. He stole just 26 more bases over the next two seasons with rapidly decreasing playing time that led him into the purgatory of never-ending and unsuccessful non-roster invites to spring training.

And Taveras was an above-average defender in center field thanks to his speed, so defense didn't run him out of the majors..

That's not all the way the Hamilton drama is likely to turn. He's a career .280 hitter in the minors. But he's not a career center fielder, an advantage that only went so far for Taveras.

You'd never know Hamilton was converted from shortstop last season, his manager says.

"He's terrific," says Price. "Had I not known he was a middle infielder when he was signed, I would have thought he always was a center fielder -- his routes to balls, footwork, approaching a base hit, throwing mechanics. He throws a very true ball from the outfield. There's no tail and run to his throws. He's been very accurate with his throwing. He's been very impressive."

Can Price envision Hamilton ever returning to shortstop?

"When you're out of shortstops," Price says. "I don't want to see (6-foot-8 relief pitcher Logan) Ondrusek out there. I like Logan better in center than I like him at short."

Obviously, Hamilton at shortstop wouldn't be like one of those worst-case, emergency-catcher scenarios.

"You always look at those," Price admits. "The flexibility definitely gives you a calming sense."

Yes, he has thought about those situations.

"Joey Votto caught when he signed," Price says, laughing about exposing his best hitter. "Better chance of Logan catching than Joey."