The competition for the fifth starter job in Cincinnati has been an electric one through the first few weeks of spring training. Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns are the main characters in the battle — and both are putting forth excellent performances in their own right — but Jose Franco has been a man on a mission in camp.
Before digging into the stats, small sample caveats apply in spades here. Lowder leads all Cincinnati Reds pitchers this spring with five innings pitched. But that's the point of spring training. It's a tune-up period where players shake off rust and experiment with whatever changes they made over the offseason into their game plan.