Josh Ravin assigned to Dayton; Kyle Lotzkar could soon join him

[OnBaseMachine]

Dragons tales

• Josh Ravin, a 20-year-old right-hander and fifth-round draft pick of the parent Reds in 2006, has been called up from extended spring training to start today's first game of a split doubleheader with the Loons.

To make room for Ravin, the Dragons placed right-hander Luis Montano on the extended spring training roster.

Tickets from the rained out May 11 game are good for today's noon game. Tickets dated for today are good for tonight's game at 7.

•Reds roving pitching coordinator Mack Jenkins expects right-hander Kyle Lotzkar to be in Dayton soon. Lotzkar, only 18, was a supplemental first-round pick by the Reds last summer. He was 0-2 with a 3.86 earned-run average with the rookie Gulf Coast League Reds, then 0-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two games with Billings

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...spdragons.html

[OnBaseMachine]

I'm pretty excited to see what Ravin can do. He's got one of the better arms in the system - he reportedly hit 99 mph in Billings last season and he also mixes in a good curveball and a changeup he's working on. He had serious command problems last year but the talent is there.

[redhawk61]

Lets hope he gains better control this year and cement himself along side Kyle as the next two "Big Arms" coming through the system.

[dougdirt]

From different scouts that saw Ravin play last year, they don't think his control was anything that couldn't be fixed to a point. Don't expect him to turn into a guy walking less than 2 per 9 or anything, but there isn't a reason to expect him to be a guy with such poor control going forward.

As for Lotzkar, it will be interesting to see what type of program they will have him on, both in terms of pitches, availability and innings over the course of the season.

[RedlegJake]

Question: Did something happen with Montano? I thought he'd been perfoming pretty well. Can he be promoted to Sarasota from extended ST? Finally how often can they move a player from the A rosters to extended?

[redsof72]

Montano will be back on the roster for his Tuesday start. This was strictly an administrative move to give them an extra pitcher for the day-night doubleheader.

[JaxRed]

I hope Ravin forces himself into their plans if the plan was to send him back after 1 start

[redsof72]

If they wanted to bring someone up for more than one start, I think it would be Lotzkar. But Ravin looked a lot better today than many might have expected even though the final numbers did not indicate that.

[OnBaseMachine]

Montano back

Luis Montano was put back on the roster and will pitch tonight's game against the Lugnuts, while Josh Ravin was sent back to extended spring training. Ravin was called up to pitch the first game of Saturday's day/night doubleheader. He lost, allowing four runs in 42/3 innings, but showed promise.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...gonsnotes.html