GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Alex McGarry had the room in his hand. Throughout his roughly five-minute stand-up set Tuesday, the Reds rookie first baseman took jabs at everyone in the room.
Every day this week, the Reds have had players participate in a “Reds Got Talent” competition, hosted by none other than Joey Votto.
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McGarry prepared. Not only had he repeatedly practiced his set, he even had the props. He wore a bomber jacket, had a microphone and a bottle of water on a stool.
McGarry, a first baseman in his first major-league spring training, went around the room and had jokes about a lot of his teammates. Michael Siani, who played with McGarry in Chattanooga last season, said he particularly enjoyed the jokes about fellow young players Matt McLain, Nick Lodolo and Tyler Stephenson.
As he finished up his set, there was an obvious omission.
“Joey,” McGarry started, and the room went silent. Everyone looked at Votto, the future Hall of Famer, waiting to hear just what the rookie who plays the same position had to say, where he’d toe the line.
McGarry looked over at Votto and continued, “Thanks for hosting Joe, you’re doing a great job.”
McGarry put the microphone down and walked away.
The crowd burst into laughter. Except for Votto.
“Great job, Alex,” Votto said. “But you gotta come at me, man. This is what being a team is about.”
Not to jinx himself, but McGarry said he feels pretty good about moving on to the finals.
“Now I’ve got to get a Joey joke ready,” he said. “It’s got to bring the house down. Stand-up comedy is not easy.”
Nor is building team chemistry. Entering the 2023 season, Reds manager David Bell wanted to focus on bringing his team together as early as possible.
“You can absolutely get the most out of who you are as a team when you’re playing together and you have each other’s backs and enjoying one another and just playing together,” Bell said Wednesday. “I know for sure it is way more fun and I’m very convinced that you can play better.”
The 2023 camp is the opposite of the 2022 camp. Last year’s camp started late and was truncated as a result of the lockout. The Reds also traded several of their veteran players — Sonny Gray, Eugenio Suárez, Jesse Winker and Amir Garrett — in the first week. While spring training is traditionally a time of optimism, the dismantling of the roster in real-time certainly put a damper on the team.
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If that spring training was subdued, what followed was a full-on funeral processional. After splitting the four-game series in Atlanta to start the season, the Reds returned home to Great American Ball Park where they began an 11-game losing streak. After a win against the Cardinals on Aug. 24, the Reds lost another nine straight.
“It was miserable,” second baseman Jonathan India said. “We couldn’t believe it was happening to us. When you looked at everybody’s face, it was like complete defeat.”
Every other team in baseball dealt with a later and shorter spring and the Reds weren’t alone in making major changes after the lockout. Still, Bell identified coming together as a team as a priority this offseason.
The talent show — with Votto not only serving as the emcee but also singing and dressing up (he wore a cowboy outfit one day and an umpire costume Wednesday) — is just part of the team-building experiences that have been set up. Wednesday was supposed to be the beginning of the 3-point shooting contest, but it was moved to Monday because of weather. There is also a players-only event at Top Golf. Both the 3-point contest and the Top Golf have attractive prize packages available for the winners.
The Reds have brought in several basketball hoops and Tuesday the 3-point line was painted on part of the complex where there have been picnic tables in the past. There are racks of balls for the contest and someone has even put up odds for the tournament (although, they are mostly in jest; McLain was 500-1 while catcher Jhonny Pereda was listed as the favorite at 6-5. For the record, Votto is not participating because he is rehabbing from his shoulder surgery and didn’t want to risk any type of aggravation.).
Bell said earlier this year he wanted to do everything he could to make the team feel together before the season began, to make the start of the season feel like the middle of the season.
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“It’s always important to get off to a good start, but I think for us, what we went through last year, it’s even more important,” Bell said.
Reliever Hunter Strickland was one of just two Reds players on the active roster for all 162 games along with Kyle Farmer, who was traded to the Twins this winter. Strickland has played for eight different teams in his nine-year big-league career, playing in the playoffs in four of those seasons and winning the World Series with the 2014 Giants and 2019 Nationals. Strickland said one thing he’s noticed with winning teams is a winning culture. When he was called up in 2014 with the Giants, Tim Hudson led the charge for that team.
“On paper, we weren’t the best team,” Strickland said. “We were the wild card or whatever, but we had a great group of guys that stuck together, believed in each other and (had) a core that was together for a few years. I think that culture is the key to it all.”
Strickland said he started to see this Reds team come together after that poor start and it was one of the reasons he wanted to return to the Reds this season. He pointed to the team’s top three starters — Hunter Greene, Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft — who came up through the minors together, as well as India and Stephenson.
And then there’s Votto.
“It’s good for the young guys to see somebody of his stature and what he’s done in this game and be vulnerable and just part of the group,” Strickland said.
And if Votto isn’t afraid to wear a costume, neither should someone like Siani, who put on a pink wig to rap a Nicki Minaj song.
“The room stays light. Guys seem to transition into the work with a lightness,” Votto said. “More importantly, we’re getting to know one another. The room is filled with the future of this uniform, the future of the Reds. We have to get to know one another and they have to build these bonds that hopefully last the next decade. I get excited watching them get closer to one another and take one step toward owning this team.”
So, which Reds have talent?
“All of them can play baseball,” Votto said. “I can tell you that.”
(Top photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)