Reds manager Bryan Price told reporters that he'll start working injured catcher Devin Mesoraco in left field to see if he can stay play this season, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Mesoraco has seen a hip specialist in New York, and the team remains confident he'll be ready for 2016, even if he plays through 2015 and has surgery in the offseason. Price added that he anticipates Mesoraco catching for the Reds in 2016, per MLB.com.
"We're going to continue to prepare him to hit and potentially work with him in the outfield a little bit and see if that's an option moving forward, to see if we can extract some value from him before we write off his season," Price said. "If he can't catch and he can only be a pinch-hitter, his value is so limited that it wouldn't make sense to take up that roster spot if that's all he can do. If he can play the outfield a bit capably, it's a way to get him in the lineup every now and again and let his bat do some influence for our club."
Mesoraco was placed on the disabled list on May 25, after trying to play through a left hip impingement through the early portion of the season. He was limited to only 45 at-bats, and held a slash line of .178/.275/.244 at the time he landed on the shelf.
"I also don't know how quickly we'll be able to assess if this is reasonable to do with Devin," Price said. "What we're doing is looking at it. We're not committing to the fact he's going to be a left fielder. But we're going to look at it before we start talking about 2016 for Devin. We'd like to keep 2015 on the table as an option."