The Cincinnati Reds have sent left handed pitcher Cody Reed back to Triple-A Louisville and recalled right handed reliever Austin Brice.
Cody Reed will join the Bats rotation according to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer. It’s been a rough go of things for the left hander out of the bullpen where he’s struggled mightily with his control. Last night he walked four more batters and now has as more walks as innings pitched, 15-to-14. Two of those walks are intentional.
Reed has not been able to find success in the Majors. After dominating in Double-A and pitching very well in Triple-A in 2016 he was called up to Cincinnati where he’s struggled ever since. In 61.2 innings he’s posted a 7.15 ERA with 75 hits allowed, 15 home runs, 34 walks and 58 strikeouts.
For Cody Reed, pitching every five days, on a regular schedule, could be something he needs to get back on track. He’s been a starting pitcher for the long majority of his minor league career and until this season has never really had these kinds of problems with control.
It sounds like this may also be an option for Robert Stephenson if he can’t turn things around, too.
“(Reed) can’t be here a whole year and average 10 innings a month. That wouldn’t be enough,” Price said. “The obvious move would be to keep them (Reed and Stephenson) working at times in Louisville unless they’re getting regular time, active time here, on our roster.”
Stephenson, like Reed, simply isn’t pitching enough, or particularly well. He’s got an ERA of 9.69 in 13.0 innings with 19 hits allowed, 12 walks and 19 strikeouts. He’s never pitched out of the bullpen in his life, and he’s gone long stretches already this season where he’s pitched once over 10+ day spans.
Austin Brice recalled
Austin Brice is joining the Reds after starting the year on the disabled list, then heading to the minor leagues after he was healthy. He’s only allowed runs in one of his nine minor league games this season. On April 21st he gave up four runs to Durham.
Overall, in 13.0 innings he’s posted a 2.77 ERA with five walks and nine strikeouts in the minors this season. That, however, does include rehab time in Double-A. His last outing for the Louisville Bats came on May 1st and he threw 3.1 shutout innings with three strikeouts and looked good while doing so. He’s just another arm in the ever moving line to join the Reds bullpen to help give them innings that the rotation is having problems filling out early this season.