The Cincinnati Reds just announced that RHP Dylan Axelrod will be making the start on Saturday in place of Homer Bailey who is on the disabled list. Axelrod is not on the 40-man roster right now, so he will have to be added before the game. My bet would be Joey Votto goes to the 60-day DL to create a spot for him since 60 days for Votto will be in just over two weeks and he won’t be ready to play in the big leagues by then.
What should you expect to see from Dylan Axelrod? Well, the 28-year-old has 198.0 innings in the big leagues over the last three years with the Chicago White Sox where he has a 5.36 ERA from 30 starts and 18 relief appearances. He’s been rather hittable, allowing 244 hits in that span to go along with 33 home runs, 73 walks and 132 strikeouts.
Since coming over to the Reds organization he’s made five starts with the Louisville Bats, posting a 3.05 ERA in 35.1 innings pitched with just five walks and has struck out 24 batters. So he has certainly been pitching better of late than he was pitching while with the Charlotte Knights (Triple-A for the White Sox).
What is his stuff like?
Fastball | The pitch works 88-90 MPH and can touch 92 on occasion. He will thrown a four and two-seam fastball with the latter having some extra sinking action to it.
Slider | Working in the low 80’s it doesn’t have much bite to it, almost making it a cutter but the little bite that it does have makes it a slider.
Curveball | Arguably his best pitch, working the low-to-mid 70’s with 12-6 breaking action to it, it is not a good breaking ball, but it’s not bad. Fringe average would probably be a good call on it.
Change Up | Working in the low-to-mid 80’s it is a little bit firm. It will show some sink to it, but it doesn’t have much horizontal movement to it and is close enough to the speed of the fastball to make it hittable.
What are the keys?
Throwing strikes. Axelrod isn’t going to miss many bats at the big league level, and in the past he’s struggled to avoid giving out free passes as well. With the Bats he’s shown control and if he can bring that with him to Cincinnati, it will certainly help. He’s long been plagued by the home run, and GABP certainly won’t help that. Still, pound the strikezone and hope the ball stays in the park and that your elite defense behind you can get the job done and that when they step into the batters box that they can get some runs on the board.