Sports
Reds Caravan Visits Athens
By: Andrew Hines
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On Thursday, the Cincinnati Reds launched the 2014 Reds Caravan. The Reds Caravan is an event where Reds players, coaches and announcers travel to different cities and give their fans the opportunity to interact with the team. Manager Bryan Price says it gives them the chance to get outside of the Reds community and touch the different supporters in surrounding counties and states.
There are four different tours on the caravan, the north, south, east and west tours. Their first stop on the east tour was Athens, Ohio. It included broadcasters Jeff Piecoro and Chris Welsh, new manager Bryan Price, pitchers Logan Ondrusek and Homer Bailey, Seth Mejias-Brean, Director of Player Development Jeff Graupe, and mascot Mr. Red.
“The caravan for us is to give back to fans who may not be able to make it out to all of the games and who are from greater distances,” Ondrusek said. Price says it is a good chance for them so show the fans how much they appreciate them and all of their support.
The Reds contingent talked about the upcoming season and what they expected to happen throughout the remainder of the offseason. Price also talked about what he expected, personally, coming into his first season as the new manager rather than the pitching coach, and some of the bigger challenges.
“The transition is really making sure to understand the game from the position player perspective,” Price said. “One of the disadvantages of being a manager that was a position player is not understanding fully what it’s like to be a pitcher.”
After leaving Athens, the caravan will be heading to Charleston, W.Va., Vienna, W.Va. and Ashland, Ky.