The Cincinnati Reds feel they need a 9-man pitching staff once again and have recalled left-handed reliever Cody Reed from Triple-A Louisville. To make room on the 25-man roster they optioned utility-man Josh VanMeter back to Triple-A Louisville.
For Cody Reed, this will be his second time in the Major Leagues this season. Earlier in the year he was briefly called up to help out a worn out bullpen. He pitched in one game, throwing 2.1 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts. In Louisville this season he’s been rather dominant for the Bats. With the International League watching home run rates, and thus ERA’s explode throughout the league, Reeds combination of strikeouts and very high ground ball rates have his ERA sitting at 3.06 on the season in 17.2 innings. He’s allowed just 1 home run and he’s struck out 23 of the 70 batters he’s faced (32.9%).
For Josh VanMeter, he’ll head back to Triple-A where he was killing the baseball for the Bats. In his 8 games played in the Major Leagues he went 2-14 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base. There wasn’t a lot of playing time to go around for him despite the fact that he can play about 6 different positions. With Derek Dietrich also playing most of those spots, and Dietrich murdering the baseball this season, it left VanMeter with mostly pinch-hitting duties. For now he’s going to rejoin the Bats and try to get back in the groove of things like he was in April when he won the International League’s player of the month award.
It’s unlikely the Reds go very long with a 9-man bullpen. Whether it’s going to be Cody Reed to go back to the minor leagues, or another move in the bullpen isn’t known. But don’t expect the bullpen to be this big beyond the weekend series, it’s not a likely scenario.