Reds' Zack Cozart: Spring training games delayed

Cozart (knee) won't be in the lineup Friday when the Reds begin spring training games. Instead, he'll likely start Monday or Tuesday next week. This isn't because there are problems with his knee, however. "He's fine. He could play tomorrow," manager Bryan Price said on Thursday. "They want to do some baserunning stuff with him to make sure his legs are conditioned coming off the DL at the end of the year. There's no reason he couldn't play. But why rush it with the length of spring training?"

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Cozart confirmed that his knee is fine and that he's just working on getting his timing back. "There are no issues with me, we're just going to take it slow these first couple of games," Cozart said. "It was weird yesterday, we were doing that 27 outs [drill] and hitting and running out of the box, and having some game action on the field. It's just a whole different thing on your body. I'm ready for it. I told Bryan, physically, I feel great. I'm ready. We play a lot of games. I don't need to play 30 games or whatever we've got. I'll get my timing down."