In all 60 games of his Major League career, Graham Ashcraft has worked as a starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. But if the Reds carry a lead into the ninth inning in their season-opening game on Thursday, could Cincinnati call the Huntsville High School and UAB hurler out of the bullpen to close the contest?

Alexis Diaz saved 28 games for the Reds in 2024. But after recording a 13.50 earned-run average in four Cactus League appearances, Diaz is starting the regular season on the injured list, leaving a hole at the back of the Cincinnati bullpen.

On Wednesday, Reds manager Terry Francona said he didn’t know who would close if a save situation arose on Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.

“It depends on how we get there,” Francona said.

The Reds decided to switch Ashcraft to the bullpen late in spring training, and the right-hander aims to become the closer.

“At the end of the day, if I’m in the bullpen that’s where I want to be,” Ashcraft said. “But you’ve also got to earn that spot. That’s the biggest thing.”

Ashcraft worked as a starter in his first five Cactus League games. He had a 5.41 ERA, and in 13.1 innings yielded 14 hits and six walks while striking out nine.

In his final spring-training appearance on March 20, Ashcraft worked three hitless innings out of the bullpen against the Kansas City Royals, yielding one walk while striking out two.

“The adrenaline rush is awesome,” Ashcraft said. “I’m excited to kind of get to experience that side of it.”

In his only season at UAB, Ashcraft made nine starts and eight relief appearances in 2019. But in all 46 games of his minor-league career at four stops in the Cincinnati system – Greeneville Reds, Dayton Dragons, Chattanooga Lookouts and Louisville Bats – Ashcraft was used strictly as a starter.

Called up during the 2022 season, Ashcraft went into the Reds’ rotation.

“It’s something that’s been going around for a while,” Ashcraft said of the switch to the bullpen. “When they originally called me up, that was kind of what they wanted me to do, and then I just had to fill a role when (Connor) Overton got hurt in ‘22. It just kind of stuck.”

Ashcraft has a 17-20 record with a 4.91 ERA in 328 innings with the Reds.

“We’ve all kind of teetered on that idea and what it would look like,” Cincinnati pitching coach Derek Johnson said of the switch. “Obviously, we haven’t seen it, so we don’t know. But he could be kind of that really nice piece in the bullpen that we didn’t have to go out and acquire. It’s a homegrown guy that has got a really good arm and the kind of disposition that it takes to pitch in (a late-inning role).”

The Reds and the Giants start the season at 3:10 p.m. CDT Thursday at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.