It seems that the Cincinnati Reds have promoted left handed starter Seth Varner from Dayton up to the Florida State League where he will join the Daytona Tortugas.
Thank you @DragonsBaseball for the awesome experience this year. Excited to start a new chapter tomorrow by joining the @daytonatortugas.
— Seth Varner (@SethVarner26) June 29, 2015
The 23-year-old left hander had a very strong first half of the year with the Dayton Dragons. He posted a 2.88 ERA in fourteen starts that spanned 78.0 innings pitched. Armed with outstanding control he would walk just five batters (that’s 1.6% of the batters he has faced this season) and he sent 77 hitters back to the dugout with their bat in hand. Varner’s strikeout-to-walk ratio currently sits at 15.4-to-1. That is the best in minor league baseball, by far. The next best ratio is 12-to-1 among qualified pitchers. In June that number has been even better as the lefty has been on an absolute roll. In 23.0 innings pitched he’s walked just one batter and added 21 strikeouts all while posting a 1.96 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .560 OPS. He hasn’t allowed a home run in his last 33.2 innings, a span of six starts since allowing two in a start to Great Lakes.
Here are the 2015 stats for Seth Varner in 2015 to this point, all with the Dayton Dragons.
| W | L | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| 7 | 4 | 2.88 | 78.0 | 82 | 4 | 5 | 77 | 1.12 |
Joining Varner in Daytona will be outfielder Brian O’Grady.
The 23-year-old outfielder was hitting .271/.385/.450 in Dayton with 46 walks and 55 strikeouts in 305 plate appearances. He also had 21 stolen bases in 25 attempts.
After a slow start in April, posting an OPS of just .584, the former Rutgers product has been on an absolute tear ever since. Since the calendar flipped over to May he’s hit .306/.401/.530 over 218 plate appearances.
June has seen his power explode. After hitting just one home run in April and May, O’Grady has five home runs in June to go along with seven doubles and two triples. It’s led to a .635 slugging percentage on the month and likely one of the reason that led to his promotion to Daytona.