Cincinnati's Price ready for managerial debut

Published Feb. 26, 2014 12:20 p.m. ET

foxsports

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Bryan Price awakened at 4 a.m. Wednesday, about 30 minutes before he usually awakens, "So I had about a 30-minute jump-start on the anxiety."

It was because it was the day of his debut, his first game as a baseball manager at any level -- his Cincinnati Reds against the Cleveland Indians in the first exhibition game of the spring.

Price, 51, a native of San Francisco, was drafted in the eighth round of the 1984 drafted out of Cal-Berkley by the Los Angeles Angels and made it as far as Triple-A and compiled a 31-19 minor-league record. He was slowed by elbow surgery after the 1987 season and pitched two more years before giving it up.

He became a pitching coach in the Seattle system in 1989 and he remained a pitching coach, including four years as pitching coach for Dusty Baker.

When Baker was fired, Price was elevated to the manager's office. And on Wednesday he was prepared to manage his first game.

"When I first got hired (last October) was when I realized the size of the job and so there were a lot of sleepless nights, nights when you get up and you can't sleep because I want to do this thing right and hope that everything is in order," he said.

March to Opening Day