In the past the Cincinnati Reds have made more than one round of September call-ups. There was usually a guy or two that came up on the first day eligible, then a second round of players once the Triple-A season ended. And that sounds like what’s going to be happening again this year. Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer notes that beyond Sal Romano and Tyler Mahle, that Cincinnati will likely recall Matt Bowman and Wandy Peralta tomorrow.
First wave of September call-ups are tomorrow. Beyond Sal Romano and Tyler Mahle, #Reds will likely call-up RHP Matt Bowman and LHP Wandy Peralta.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) August 31, 2019
It’s worth noting that he uses the words “first wave”. The Louisville Bats season will end on Monday when they finish up the year against Indianapolis in a 1pm game. Rather than just make tons of moves throughout the system to make all of the call ups on Sunday rather than on Tuesday, letting the minor league season play out makes plenty of sense. Perhaps things would be viewed differently if the Reds were in a playoff race and could use every small advantage they could get on Sunday and Monday. But they aren’t. So having a few extra pinch running options, or options 14-18 on the pitching staff aren’t overly important for those two games.
Matt Bowman could be a weapon for the bullpen down the stretch, though. Of course, that is if he’s used in the proper situations. The right-handed pitcher has dominated right-handed hitters this year. They have hit just .189/.250/.291 against him in 140 plate appearances between Triple-A and the Majors.
On the flip side, though, lefties have had plenty of success against him. In 113 plate appearances against Matt Bowman this season between Triple-A and the Majors they are hitting .292/.389/.406 against him. They aren’t hitting for much power, but they’ve walked 16 times and struck out just 18 times, while hitting plenty of singles. He probably shouldn’t face lefties. But he could be a weapon against right-handers in September for David Bell to go to.
Wandy Peralta has been fine in his short time in Triple-A since being optioned there earlier this season. He’s pitched in 12 games and thrown 11.0 innings. He’s walked just one batter, and he hasn’t given up a home run. The left-hander has struck out seven batters along the way to a 3.27 ERA. His time in Cincinnati earlier in the season resulted in a 5.06 ERA in 32.0 innings with 14 walks and 26 strikeouts. He gave up seven homers with the big league club.
Earlier this week at Redleg Nation I wrote about the position players I believed would and wouldn’t be recalled. I also wrote about which pitchers I felt would and wouldn’t be called up. Give them a read for my thoughts on how things could play out on Tuesday.