Cactus League, Game 9 - Luis Cessa takes the mound against Mike Trout

In Luis Cessa’s lone outing of Cactus League work so far, he yielded a solo homer in an inning of work. He’ll look to improve upon that effort today for the Cincinnati Reds as they travel to Tempe to take on Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.

Cessa’s in quite the interesting position, really. With Justin Dunn’s shoulder injury, the path to a spot in the starting rotation appears to be much more open for him, but the reality is that the Reds could equally use his abilities in their banged-up, threadbare bullpen. Tejay Antone is out for months, Tony Santillan has been slow to get back into the swing of things, and it’s not like the Reds made many outside additions to a club whose 4.44 bullpen FIP was the highest in all of baseball in 2022.

Cessa’s about to exit Reds camp and be on-duty with Mexico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, too, meaning his time to impress while in camp is going to be limited. Therefore, it would sure be nice to see him put in a quality effort this afternoon.

First pitch is set for the usual 3:05 PM ET, and the Reds will be up against lefty Patrick Sandoval to begin things. The Reds are also rolling out a lineup featuring both Elly De La Cruz and Noelvi Marte, and you’ll be able to watch them ply their trades through the Angels broadcast on MLB.tv, too.

Reds Lineup (Updated)

Angels Lineup (the one on the left)