With the Reds announcing that Keyvius Sampson will start on Sunday for the Cincinnati Reds, it left open a spot in the rotation in Louisville. Right hander Josh Smith was promoted from Double-A Pensacola to join the Louisville Bats where he will presumably fill the spot in the rotation. Taking his spot in Pensacola is right hander Sal Romano, who is coming up from Daytona. For now, it’s unknown who will take over for Romano in Daytona.
Romano has spent the entire season with the Daytona Tortugas. With Daytona he has thrown 104.0 innings with a 3.46 ERA to go along with 33 walks and 79 strikeouts. He’s allowed just two home runs, partly because the Florida State League eats fly balls for breakfast, but also because he’s got an extremely high rate of groundballs (60% on the season).
Over the last month he’s really taken a step forward, at least statistically. In six starts the big righty has thrown 37.1 innings with a 2.41 ERA, just five walks and he’s struck out 27 batters. He will look to keep that good run rolling when he takes the mound on Monday for Pensacola.
Josh Smith is moving up to Triple-A Louisville. After pitching in the big leagues for two weeks in late June and early July, the Reds sent Smith back to Double-A Pensacola where there was an open spot in the rotation.
Smith made five starts with the Blue Wahoos in July, throwing 31.0 innings with just seven walks and he struck out 29 batters while posting a 3.77 ERA. It will be his second stint with Louisville this year. In his first trip he made seven startss for the Bats and posteda 3.09 ERA over 43.2 innings.