Rookie Davis has been shut down for the rest of the 2017 season. Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer also noted that the hip impingement may require surgery.
Rookie Davis is shut down for the season with a hip impingement. Davis talked around it, but a source said surgery is at least an option.
— Zach Buchanan (@ZachENQ) September 24, 2017
It has been a tough season for Rookie Davis. The right hander started the season in the big leagues after winning a job in the rotation in spring training. He would make three starts in April for the Reds and struggled in each – never making it beyond the 4th inning and allowing 12 earned runs in 9.2 innings. In May he made two more starts, throwing 5.0 shutout innings in one and allowing four runs in 4.1 innings in the other start.
After that second start in May the Reds optioned him back to Triple-A. There he would only make two starts before hitting the disabled list with a back injury. There was a knot in his back that was causing issues and it kept him off of the mound for five weeks. He would rehab for a week in Arizona before joining the Pensacola rotation in Double-A. He made three solid, but unspectacular starts there before rejoining the Louisville rotation. There were some ups and downs there, but in that time he began to throw a split-fingered fastball and saw his strikeout-to-walk ratio take an enormous turn in the right direction. Over the final month of his season with the Bats he had four walks and 36 strikeouts in 35.2 innings.
When the season ended in Louisville, the Cincinnati Reds recalled Rookie Davis back to the Major Leagues. His first outing, eight days after his last start in Louisville, came out of the bullpen. Eight days later he would once again take the mound, but this time he got the start. Things didn’t go as well as he would have liked, allowing five runs in 3.0 innings – giving up three home runs along the way.
While there is only a week remaining in the season, the Reds will need to fill the spot in the rotation that is being vacated by Rookie Davis. They’ve announced that the spot will be taken by Deck McGurie, P.I. It will be the first start of the career for McGuire, who has been outstanding in his four relief appearances since joining the team after the playoffs in Pensacola.
It was a big season for Deck McGuire in the minors in 2017. He spent the entire year in Double-A with the Blue Wahoos. Including his start in the playoffs, he threw 176.0 innings with an ERA of 2.66. That came with just 129 hits allowed, 57 walks and 183 strikeouts. His season earned him a call up as the team added him to the 40-man roster in September.