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The Reds' best prospect, Nick Senzel, will start the season at Triple-A Louisville.
Fletcher Page, fpage @ enquirer..com

PHOENIX – The Gennett scooter paid the price of a sliding stop on a ground ball on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The second baseman of the Reds' All-Star had to leave the match with a groin injury in the second inning after recording the strike on a striking ball from Orlando Arcia's stick in the right field shortly deep.

Gennett seemed to say "it jumped" to coach Steve Baumann before he was helped off the pitch by Baumann and Reds manager David Bell.

"It was hard to see," said Reds pitcher Robert Stephenson, who covered the first goal. "It looks like it's a little weird or something like that, I'm not really sure, it looks like there was something with his groin, I can not really say for sure. "

A cart was used to move Gennett away from the dugout, which was then MRI. The results of the MRI were not available immediately after the match.

"Oh yes, obviously, worried," Bell said. "It does not really make sense to speculate because I'm sure we'll find out soon enough, he's part of our team, we all know it, and we all hope for the best at the moment."

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Gennett had a .310 / .357 / .490 slash line last season, hitting 23 homers with 92 RBIs. He led the Reds with 86 points.

José Iglesias and Derek Dietrich played second throughout the spring and could replace if Gennett was forced to miss a late game early in the season. Best prospect Nick Senzel, who was reassigned to minor league play Friday, played second goal last year.

"I kind of avoided letting thoughts circulate in my head, just out of respect for the importance of Scooter for our team," said Bell. "We're just hoping for the best right now, obviously it's a concern, but you never know, we'll know soon enough."