Reds' Marlon Byrd welcomes any pressure to perform

G OODYEAR, Ariz. – The offseason fix to the Reds' offensive woes showed up to the team's spring training complex on Saturday, and Marlon Byrd already feels the pressure on his shoulders.

"There should be pressure on me – this is a team that wanted me, I've got to come in and fill that veteran's role and the left field spot and bring some pop to the lineup," Byrd said. "I have to produce like I have the last two years, and if I come in and do anything less, it's a failure on my part. That's where the pressure sets in. But we should put pressure on ourselves every year to get better and put up better numbers."

The expectation is for him to provide power and stability in left field. Since the Reds traded Adam Dunn to the Diamondbacks in 2008, the team has used 26 starting left fielders. Last year alone, they had seven different players start there – Ryan Ludwick, Chris Heisey, Skip Schumaker, Jason Bourgeois, Donald Lutz, Yorman Rodriguez and Roger Bernadina. A year ago, Byrd started 148 games for the Phillies and played in a total of 150, hitting .264 with a .312 on-base percentage and a .445 slugging percentage for Philadelphia.

In his first 11 seasons in the big leagues, Byrd had only hit 20 home runs once in a season, when he hit that on the nose in 2009 with the Rangers. In 2013, he hit 24 with the Mets and Pirates, and last season he hit 25 for the Phillies at age 36.

Position players don't report to camp until Monday and will have their first workout on Tuesday, so any talk of lineups is far away, but that doesn't mean Byrd hasn't looked. He said he pretty much knows he won't be leading off – that will go to Billy Hamilton. In the lineup he's penciled in, he sees Brandon Phillips second and Joey Votto third – and after that, it's up in the air.

"From that point on, being able to shuffle four-through-seven, eight isn't bad," he said. "I think the cool thing is, I was looking and you have a lineup of two through seven capable of hitting 30 home runs, no matter how you mix and match." I don't know if (Todd) Frazier hit 30 (he hit 29 last season). Brandon's hit 30, Votto's hit 30, (Jay) Bruce has 30. I have 25, and I'm hoping for 30 at some point before I retire. I don't think it really matters how you make the lineup, as long as there is no selfishness as far as where guys are hitting."

MIJARES EXPECTED: Sunday the Reds finally expect their 34th, and final, pitcher to report to big-league camp – four days after the reporting date. Left-hander Jose Mijares was unable to get a flight from his native Venezuela before Sunday.

Reds manager Bryan Price said he wants to talk to Mijares in person before he says much more about the former Giant's tardiness.

"He's at home, apparently from our understanding is that he had a real problem getting a flight out — I'd rather wait for him to get here to hear an explanation as to how that could happen," Price said. "I don't want this kid to be sitting under the bus because it could have been a simple enough mistake but we were certainly hoping to have him here with the rest of the pitchers. My understanding is that he will arrive at some point on Sunday."

Price said it is not a visa issue.

Mijares, 30, was signed to a minor-league deal with an invitation to big league camp. He did not play last season after opting out of his minor-league deal with the Red Sox near the end of spring training. He was 0-3 with a 4.22 ERA in 60 games for the Giants in 2013 and is 6-11 with a 3.23 ERA in parts of six seasons for the Twins, Royals and Giants.

A left-handed specialist, Mijares gave up a two-run double to Jay Bruce in Game 2 of the 2012 National League Division Series after giving up a single to Joey Votto and walking Ryan Ludwick. He was charged with three runs in the five-run eighth inning. He didn't allow another run in his last five postseason appearances that year, including another against the Reds in Game 4.

In his career, left-handers have hit just .225/.288/.335 against him.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH: Saturday was just the third day of workouts for the Reds' pitchers and catchers, so the drills done between throwing sessions are still quite basic — and that's on purpose.

"What you're seeing now, especially before position players get out there, is just a reintroduction to the basic fundamentals, covering first base, fielding comebackers, fielding a bunt, throwing to third base," Price said. "It is a reintroduction because we focus on teaching to the youngest, least experienced player in camp, benefit to that. For the veteran players, there may be something along the way you pick up something you didn't know, maybe a coach you didn't work with before resonates with you in a positive way. It's an introduction, it's largely to the benefit of the younger player to introduce them to the way we do things here with the Reds."

The pitchers and catchers will then repeat many of the same drills next week when position players report. It can get repetitive quickly, but that's part of the point.

NOT CHANGING MUCH: While the Reds need lefty Tony Cingrani to be healthy, there's a fine line between changing what he does in an attempt to keep him on the field and changing what works.

"You remember watching John Tudor throw and he'd have that low arm slot and kind of sling it. Or Sid Fernandez, when there was a deception to the delivery — if you clean that up too much or try to make it too prototypical, a coach would lose the deception for his pitcher," manager Bryan Price said. "With Tony, he's had nothing but success.

"Last year, he wasn't healthy and he struggled with command, and probably struggled with command because he wasn't healthy. We definitely discussed that his arm needs to be up in time or it's going to put more load on his shoulder and he's going to feel it. That's an area that we'll be focusing on over the course of the spring and throughout the season."