News came out that right handed pitcher Alfredo Simon is out for the year with a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Not diving deeply into the fact that the Reds brought him in to eat innings this spring and he wound up giving them 58.2 innings of 9.56 ERA baseball, the team needs to fill innings that they were, for some reason, relying on him to fill down the stretch.
Looking over the 40-man roster that leaves several options. Pensacola just saw their season end and they have three players on the 40-man roster. Rookie Davis, Sal Romano and Abel De Los Santos, all right handers, could be options. Amir Garrett is the lone pitcher from Triple-A that’s both healthy and still not called up, though the Reds have said that he’s reached his innings limit for the year (which is confusing given that he threw 144.2 innings this year, 140.1 last year and 133.1 the year before – that’s not really a jump in innings at all).
Abel De Los Santos is the only one of that group with any big league experience, though it’s not much to lean on. He’s pitched in two big league games for a total of 1.2 innings. Both appearances came for the Nationals in the 2015 season. The 23-year-old began the year in Triple-A with the Nationals organization, posting a 3.54 ERA in 20.1 innings with 13 walks and 26 strikeouts before being claimed on waivers by the Reds. Cincinnati sent him to Double-A where he’s finished out the year. In 23.1 innings he walked just seven batters and struck out 25 batters to go along with a 1.54 ERA.
Rookie Davis spent some time in Triple-A, making five appearances there before heading back to Double-A to help the Blue Wahoos in their playoff run. Overall he threw 125.0 innings on the season with a 3.82 ERA. From an innings standpoint he should be good to go as he’s tossed more than that in the two previous seasons. He did have some struggles in Triple-A with Louisville where he had a 7.50 ERA in 24.0 innings with seven walks and 25 strikeouts. He performed much better in Pensacola, posting a 2.94 ERA with 30 walks and 62 strikeouts in 101.0 innings.
Sal Romano has the biggest arm of the group, though he’s also the youngest and unlike the other two has never pitched in Triple-A. He’s been on fire in the second half of the season for Pensacola. Over his final 12 starts, dating back to July 7th, he posted a 2.12 ERA in 76.1 innings with nine walks and 69 strikeouts. He threw 156.0 innings in the regular season and then another five in the playoffs. That’s 12.2 innings over his previous season high – so there could be some innings limit he’s closing in on depending on exactly how the organization is tracking his workload.