Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce has gone on paternity leave. That opens up a spot on the 25-man roster for the time being and in place of Bruce the organization has called up reliever Layne Somsen.
The 26-year-old right handed pitcher was selected by the Reds in the 22nd round of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. He’s moved up through every level of the farm and even pitched in the Arizona Fall League in 2015. He’s sporting a career minor league ERA of 2.49 in 173.1 innings with 68 walks and 175 strikeouts.
The righty reliever has gotten out to a strong start for the Louisville Bats after being a late cut in spring training with the big league club. Somsen made five appearances for the Louisville Bats and threw 8.2 innings, allowing just one run. He also walked three batters and struck out 11 of the 33 batters that he faced.
From a scouting perspective, what can we expect from the South Dakota native?
Fastball | He works with a cut fastball in the 89-91 MPH range and touches 93 with the pitch.
Curveball | His main secondary offering is his curveball that he throws in the 78-82 MPH range.
He works with a high 3/4 arm angle that gives him some deception. It’s also helped him generate a high rate of groundballs. In the 2015 season he had a 54% ground ball rate. His curveball is a strong offering that he relies on to get strikeouts and it shows good 12-6 break.
Somsen missed a lot of bats in the minor leagues, but he also has had some bouts with control at times. His career walk rate is a little higher than you’d like to see it, 3.5 batters walked per 9 innings pitched, but it’s not extremely high either. The walks have been the lone wart on his resume as he’s come through the system and it warrants keeping an eye on when he does get into a big league game for the first time.
The team hasn’t announced a corresponding 40-man roster move yet.