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Reds Designate Conner Capel For Assignment

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Austin Wynns. In corresponding moves, they have optioned outfielder Jacob Hurtubise and designated outfielder Conner Capel for assignment.

It’s unclear why the Reds have added a third catcher to their roster, as they already have Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile on the team. It’s possible that something is up with Stephenson, as he has only been in the starting lineup twice since Saturday, serving as the designated hitter in one of those two.

This is pure speculation but he has been hit on the hand by a pitch a few times this year, which could be part of the problem. Back on June 6, x-rays on his hand came back negative, per C. Trent Rosecrans on X. But he has hit .111/.250/.185 since that date, perhaps suggesting something is amiss.

Whatever the reason, the 33-year-old Wynns has been added to the roster. In the offseason, he was signed to a major league split deal that would pay him $950K for time spent on the major league roster and $300K in the minors. He was later designated for assignment and passed through waivers. As a player with between three and five years of service time, he could have elected free agency but doing so would have meant forfeiting that money.

He therefore reported to Louisville and gets back to the majors today. He has a pretty tepid batting line of .226/.273/.324 in his major league career and his work at Triple-A this year has only been slightly better at .252/.310/.408. But he has received solid grades for his defense in recent years, with Statcast being particularly fond of his work controlling the running game, as he comes in the top ten on their catcher throwing leaderboard since the start of 2021.

To get Wynns onto the roster, the Reds have bumped off Capel. The 27-year-old was selected to the roster in early May but only appeared in five games before being optioned back down. He has been in pretty good form in Louisville, having hit eight home runs and drawn walks in 16.7% of his 192 plate appearances. He is slashing .226/.361/.439 at that level for a 109 wRC+ despite a .248 batting average on balls in play.

The Reds will now have a week to trade Capel or pass him through waivers. He is in his final option year so perhaps he will garner interest from a club with a 40-man roster spot available and a need for outfield depth. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency.

Reds Select Brooks Kriske

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of righty reliever Brooks Kriske and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville. Since he is being added to the roster but kept in the minors, he likely had an opt-out of some kind in his contract that the Reds didn’t want him to trigger. To open a 40-man roster spot for him, infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

That presumed opt-out provision won’t immediately get Kriske back to the big leagues, but he was able to leverage it into a spot on the 40-man roster. The 30-year-old inked the minor league deal not long before Christmas. He has made 27 appearances with Louisville, working to a 3.64 earned run average over 29 2/3 innings. Kriske has missed bats in bunches, fanning a third (40 of 120) of the opponents he’s faced.

While Kriske has shown intriguing stuff, he hasn’t had particularly fine command. He has walked more than 14% of opposing hitters with the Bats. That’s not a new issue. Kriske has a lofty 12.7% walk rate in parts of three Triple-A campaigns. His 16.5% mark over 20 career major league appearances is even less tenable — one reason he has allowed 28 runs in 21 1/3 MLB frames.

Kriske’s brief major league time has been split between three franchises. He divided the 2020-21 seasons with the Yankees and Orioles and pitched in four games for the Royals a season ago. Getting onto the 40-man gives him a good chance to return to the big leagues with the Reds at some point. It might take an injury to someone in the current ’pen to do so. Cincinnati only has three relievers in the MLB bullpen who have minor league options: Alexis Díaz, Fernando Cruz and Sam Moll. None of them are getting sent down.

Encarnacion-Strand has been out since the early part of May with a fracture and ligament damage in his right wrist/hand area. His season is in jeopardy depending on whether he needs to undergo surgery. In any case, he certainly won’t be back anytime soon.

Season-Ending Surgeries Possible For Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Brandon Williamson

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TODAY: Williamson will forego surgery for now, Bell told Mark Sheldon (X link) and other reporters, and has instead received injections in his ailing shoulder.  The southpaw will be shut down for at least three weeks to see how his shoulder responds to the treatment, and will then resume throwing if improvement is shown.

JUNE 11: Two players on the Reds may need to go under the knife, according to David Bell, as relayed by Mark Sheldon of MLB.com (X link) and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (X link). Infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand has ligament damage in his fractured hand while left-hander Brandon Williamson has a lesion in his shoulder. Both players will be evaluated in the coming days with season-ending surgery possible for each of them.

Encarnacion-Strand debuted with a splash last year, hitting 13 home runs in his first 63 major league games. He slashed .270/.328/.477 for a wRC+ of 112 while playing first and third base, as well as a brief stint in right field.

That showing got him the everyday first base gig coming into 2024, though the season hasn’t played out the way he or the club hoped. He produced a tepid line of .190/.220/.293 this year before landing on the injured list in early May. He had been hit on the hand by a pitch at the end of April. X-rays after that HBP were negative but revealed an “old fracture” in one of his bones, per Wittenmyer. He continued playing for a little bit longer before eventually being placed on the IL.

He’s been on the IL for over a month now and it seems some further testing discovered some ligament damage. “Surgery is an option,” Bell said today, per Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer on X. “We’re hopeful he can start progressing. If that’s what he and the specialist decide.”

As for Williamson, he’s been on the injured list all year due to a shoulder strain that was diagnosed in spring training. He had been on a rehab assignment of late but that was shut down last week due to continued discomfort.

Once a top 100 prospect, Williamson went from the Mariners to the Reds as part of the March 2022 trade that sent Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker to Seattle. Williamson made his major league debut last year with a 4.46 earned run average that obviously isn’t too exciting, but it’s perhaps notable that his results improved as he got acclimated to the majors. He had a5.82 ERA in his first eight outings but then a 3.79 ERA in his final 15.

The Reds’ season has been significantly affected by absences of potential contributors so far this year. Noelvi Marté received an 80-game PED suspension and has been away from the team all year, while players like Encarnacion-Strand, Williamson, Matt McLain, Nick Lodolo, TJ Friedl and others have missed time due to injuries.

Lodolo and Friedl have since returned to the club and McLain could perhaps rejoin the club in August. If either Encarnacion-Strand or Williamson or both end up requiring surgery, it will deprive the club of another such return later in the year.

The club slumped badly in May but have been quite hot of late, with seven wins in their past eight games. Their 32-34 record isn’t especially impressive but it puts them just half a game back of a playoff spot in the relatively weak National League playoff race. Assuming they hang around the postseason picture in the coming weeks, they may be able to address these issues, if the surgeries are eventually deemed necessary.

For now, Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Frankie Montas are in four rotation spots with one opening due to the recent optioning of Graham Ashcraft. Internal options to fill the spot include Nick Martinez and Carson Spiers. Williamson would be in that mix if healthy but he would naturally be subtracted if he ends up undergoing the surgery.

On the infield, Spencer Steer has been the regular first baseman lately, with Jonathan India at second, Jeimer Candelario at third and Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, while the designated hitter spot has largely been used to rotate the club’s many outfielders into the lineup. If Encarnacion-Strand were healthy, Steer could have been moved to third or DH or a corner outfield spot, though that possibility is clearly not an option at the moment and may not come into the play at all for the remainder of 2024.

Reds Notes: Marte, Candelario, Rotation

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The Reds’ offense has underwhelmed as a whole this season — as have many lineups around the game — entering play Thursday with a tepid .226/.307/.372 batting line that clocks in 10% worse than league-average, per wRC+. Cincinnati ranks 13th in the majors in runs scored and 17th in home runs, but that’s largely been a function of situational hitting. Overall, Reds hitters rank 27th in batting average, 19th in on-base percentage and 21st in slugging percentage. They have baseball’s seventh-best walk rate, but also the game’s sixth-highest strikeout rate.

Injuries have played a large role. Matt McLain has been out all season due to shoulder surgery. TJ Friedl has only been able to take 80 plate appearances due to a pair of bad-luck fractures (one in his right wrist, another in his left thumb). Christian Encarnacion-Strand struggled when healthy and is now dealing with both a fracture and ligament damage in his hand, which could cost him the remainder of the season.

Another key factor in the Reds’ offensive struggles has been the absence of third baseman Noelvi Marte, who was hit with an 80-game suspension this spring after testing positive for a banned substance. Marte is gearing up for a return, however. The Reds have played 68 games this season, and the 22-year-old Marte recently went out on a Triple-A assignment to ramp up for his return to play. He’s appeared in two games and gone 3-for-10 with a trio of singles and three strikeouts so far.

Certainly, any time a player is hit with a PED-related ban, their prior offensive performance generates some skepticism among fans. Marte, who hit .316/.366/.456 (120 wRC+) with three homers and seven doubles in 123 plate appearances as a rookie, will have his share of doubters. But he’s long ranked among the game’s most promising prospects and has stunningly consistent results from the minors up through the majors. Marte hit between .271 and .281 at every stop from Low-A, to High-A, to Double-A to Triple-A. His on-base percentage at each of those stops fell between .356 and .369 (lining up with his .366 OBP in last year’s MLB debut). His slugging, similarly, clocked in between .451 and .464.

Marte will be eligible to return to the team later this month and could provide an immediate boost to a club that has seen its third basemen combine to bat just .215/.275/.407. Most of that has been Jeimer Candelario (.226/.294/.494 at the hot corner), though utilityman Santiago Espinal has also played at the hot corner and struggled when there.

Candelario recently spoke with MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon about his early slump this season, preaching the importance of remaining calm and positive during his difficult start to the season. The switch-hitting veteran batted just .189/.282/.379 through the end of April but has since heated up. Over his past 153 trips to the plate, Candelario is slashing .292/.333/.563 with nine homers, ten doubles, a triple, a 5.2% walk rate and a 17.6% strikeout rate.

Manager David Bell praised Candelario’s upbeat nature and even-keel demeanor in the face of his April struggles, telling Sheldon that the glowing reviews of Candelario’s personality and demeanor played into the team’s offseason interest in him. “Everyone we talked to about Jeimer had nothing but positive things to say,” said Bell. “Very important, not only the character in the clubhouse but being a hitter, the stability he provides our lineup.” Catcher Tyler Stephenson offered similar praise about what Candelario has meant to teammates.

Once Marte comes back, Candelario could slide across the diamond and handle first base on a regular basis, stepping in for the injured Encarnacion-Strand and pushing Spencer Steer back to the outfield on a more regular basis. That’d make for a deeper and more consistent lineup.

The offensive side of the game isn’t the only place the Reds have been upended, however. A potentially season-ending shoulder issue for lefty Brandon Williamson and some notable struggles from righty Graham Ashcraft have created uncertainty at the back of the starting rotation as well. While swingman Nick Martinez, who inked a two-year deal worth $26MM over the offseason, is always an option to step into a starting role, it seems the club will give an opportunity to young righty Carson Spiers in the near-term.

Bell said this week that Spiers will step into the rotation Monday (X link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The 26-year-old Spiers has appeared in five games for Cincinnati this season but worked in a multi-inning relief role. In 19 1/3 frames, he’s notched a tidy 2.33 earned run average with a below-average 18.8% strikeout rate against an excellent 5% walk rate. He’s been similarly effective in a starting role down in Triple-A Louisville. Through nine appearances (eight starts), the 6’3″ righty touts a 2.51 ERA with a 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate.

It’s not clear yet whether Spiers will be afforded a long-term audition or whether he’ll be ousted in the event that Ashcraft turns a corner down in Louisville after being optioned, but the undrafted 2020 free agent will have some control over his own fate when he takes the mound Monday at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park to take on the division-rival Pirates.

MLBTR Podcast: Injured Astros, The Chances Of Bad Teams Rebounding In 2025 And More

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The Astros have lost several players to injury but general manager Dana Brown insists they will be deadline buyers (0:45)
  • With so few teams clearly out of contention, signs are pointing towards a seller’s market at the deadline (7:20)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Out of the five worst teams right now (Athletics, Angels, White Sox, Marlins and Rockies), who most needs to replenish their farm system and who could possibly turn things around by 2025? (11:20)
  • The Guardians need a right-handed right fielder with power. Who is a viable target? (20:40)
  • Will the Marlins to try trade Jesús Luzardo and Jazz Chisholm Jr.? (24:30)
  • Could you see Alex Anthopoulos of the Braves trying to get Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays? (28:35)
  • How active will the Reds be at the deadline? (32:15)
  • Should the Dodgers acquire Javier Báez from the Tigers and move Mookie Betts back to the outfield and/or option Gavin Lux? (35:40)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Reds Sign Justus Sheffield To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed left-hander Justus Sheffield to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Complex League for now but will presumably move up to a higher affiliate after getting into game shape.

Sheffield, 28, will be looking to get back on track after some disappointing results in recent years, though he was once thought to be a future mainstay in the big leagues. Cleveland selected him 31st overall in the 2014 draft and the lefty was twice used as a notable piece of a significant trade. He was sent to the Yankees as part of the 2016 deadline deal that sent Andrew Miller the other way, then was traded to the Mariners after 2018 as part of the deal that sent James Paxton to the Bronx.

He was clearly a hot commodity during that time, looking at that draft selection and his inclusion in those trades. Baseball America ranked him as one of the top 100 prospects in four straight seasons from 2016 to 2019, putting him as high as #27 in the last of those years. That was based on a very strong 2018 campaign, wherein Sheffield tossed 116 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.48 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. He also made a brief major league debut with the Yanks, while just 22 years old, before going to Seattle in the aforementioned Paxton trade.

But his time in Seattle didn’t see him deliver on his huge prospect hype. He generally floundered with the Mariners and even struggled with their Triple-A team in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He currently sports a 5.47 ERA in 186 major league innings, spread out over the 2018 to 2022 period. He got ground balls on 49.5% of balls in play in that time but his 18.2% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate were both subpar.

He also tossed 244 1/3 minor league innings from 2019 to 2022 but had a 5.49 ERA in that time, again with fairly uninspiring peripherals. He struck out 21.2% of batters who stepped to the plate while giving out free passes 10.3% of the time.

The Mariners tried moving him to the bullpen, giving him ten relief appearances in Triple-A to start 2023, but his struggles continued and he was released in late April. He landed a minor league deal with Atlanta and that club let him return to the rotation, but he wasn’t able to turn things around with the change of scenery. He finished the year with a 7.63 ERA in 63 2/3 frames between the two organizations. He struck out just 19.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 15.2% clip.

He returned to free agency at the end of the season and has lingered there until this deal. For the Reds, there’s little harm in signing this deal and getting an up-close look at Sheffield. Despite his many trials and tribulations, he’s still almost two years away from his 30th birthday, which gives him plenty of time to engineer a second act.

If the Reds plan to stretch him out as a starter, it will likely take a few weeks for him to build up his pitch count. They do have some question marks in their rotation, as Graham Ashcraft was recently optioned to the minors after some poor results and Brandon Williamson had his rehab shut down due to continued discomfort in his throwing shoulder.

For now, the Cincinnati rotation consists of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Frankie Montas, with guys like Nick Martinez, Carson Spiers, Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson and Christian Roa candidates to take Ashcraft’s spot. In the longer term, Montas is an impending free agent while Martinez has an opt-out at the end of this year, meaning the depth could be thinned down the road. Though on the other hand, prospect liks Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty are currently in Double-A and will climb into the mix eventually.

Sheffield has less than three years of service time and one option year remaining. If he can get his performance back to his prospect days and earn a roster spot, he could provide the club with some rotation depth and the possibility for long-term benefit if things go especially well.

Hank Foiles Passes Away

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Former All Star catcher Hank Foiles passed away late last month at the age of 94, as noted by various sources including Jami Frankenberry of The Virginian-Pilot. An veteran of 11 major league seasons, Foiles played for the Reds, Indians, Pirates, Athletics, Tigers, Orioles, and Angels throughout his time in the big leagues.

Foiles started his professional career at the age of 19 as a member of the Yankees organization back in 1948, but he didn’t make his big league debut for several years. He was selected in the 1951 Rule 5 draft by the Reds but didn’t make his big league debut with the club until 1953. He appeared in just 12 games at the big league level that season between Cincinnati and Cleveland and collected three hits across his first 20 major league at-bats. Foiles wouldn’t play at the big league level in 1954 but split time with Hal Naragon as the backup to five-time All Star Jim Hegan in 1955. In 132 plate appearances that year, Foiles hit .261 with a solid .354 on-base percentage.

Foiles would appear in just one more game with Cleveland before being traded to Pittsburgh during the 1956 season. Although he had a down season at the plate during his first year with the club, his years in Pittsburgh would prove to be the most significant of his career as he earned the everyday catching job for the Pirates in 1957 and 1958. Foiles made the lone All Star appearance of his career in 1957 when he combined his glove-first profile with above average offense to slash .270/.352/.431 in 109 games.

On the 1957 NL All Star team, he joined legends of the game such as Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, and Henry Aaron opposite AL legends like Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. Foiles pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with Willie Mays on third base and drew a wild pitch to score Mays and bring the NL within two before delivering a single against longtime White Sox ace Billy Pierce. Foiles later scored from second on a single by Ernie Banks, though the NL would go on to lose the game 6-5.

Foiles would remain in Pittsburgh for two more seasons following his All Star season, and though his offense took step backward with a .209/.314/.355 line between the next two campaigns, he nonetheless made 157 appearances and 402 trips to the plate across those two seasons. 1960 saw Foiles change organizations multiple times, as he was traded from the Pirates to the then-Kansas City Athletics during the 1959-60 offseason but appeared in just six games with the club before being returned to the Pirates. He was then traded to Cleveland to act as their back-up catcher before a late July deal sent him to the Tigers. He finished the 1960 season in Detroit but was selected in the Rule V Draft for the second time that November, putting him in five different organizations over the course of one calendar year.

Over the next two years, Foiles would find his groove at the plate again as a back-up catcher for the Orioles and Reds with a combined slash line of .275/.338/.482 across 43 games. Foiles found himself on the move again in 1963 when he joined the Angels, and he appeared in 45 games for the club over the next two seasons with a roughly league average slash line of .216/.289/.386. He played his final game in the big leagues just a month before his 35th birthday on May 2, 1964. A career .243/.321/.392 hitter who appeared in 608 big league games, Foiles tallied 353 hits, 46 home runs, and 166 RBI during a solid major league career.

We at MLBTR offer our condolences to the Foiles family and to his friends, fans, and others who are mourning him around the game.

Reds Shut Down Brandon Williamson’s Rehab Assignment

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Reds lefty Brandon Williamson hasn’t pitched in the majors this season due to a shoulder strain he suffered back in spring training. He’d been out on a minor league rehab stint and looked to be nearing a potential return, but things have now hit a snag. The Reds announced today that Williamson has been pulled back from his rehab assignment — but not reinstated to the roster. Rather, he’s remaining on the injured list.

That typically indicates a setback, and shortly after the announcement, manager David Bell indeed announced to the Reds beat that Williamson is experiencing continued discomfort in his ailing shoulder (X link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). He’ll be shut down for at least the next seven days while the Reds see how his shoulder responds and evaluate their options.

It’s poor timing for Williamson, who looked as though he might have a rotation spot to fight for upon his return. Cincinnati optioned struggling righty Graham Ashcraft to Triple-A Louisville yesterday, creating an opening in the rotation behind Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Frankie Montas and Andrew Abbott. The Reds have other options to fill that spot — Nick Martinez and Carson Spiers among them — but Williamson’s apparent setback is a most unwelcome development, given that he’s an intriguing young arm and potential building block for the staff.

Williamson, selected by the Mariners out of TCU in the second round of the 2019 draft, went from Seattle to Cincinnati as part of the swap sending Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the M’s. The 6’6″ southpaw was ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects by Baseball America at the time of the trade and wound up making his MLB debut with the Reds last year. In 23 starts, he pitched to a respectable 4.46 ERA, though that number is perhaps skewed by a rough arrival in the majors.

Williamson posted a 5.82 ERA through his first eight starts but rebounded with 78 1/3 innings of 3.79 ERA ball in his final 15 trips to the hill. After posting lackluster strikeout and walk rates of 17% and 9.9%, respectively, in those first eight outings, the Minnesota native settled in with stronger marks of 21.6%  and 6.9% in the season’s final three months. It was a strong finish to his season, and when adding in 34 Triple-A frames to his 117 MLB innings, Williams closed out the year with a career-high 151 frames. Between his late performance and his lack of workload concerns, it seemed as though he’d pitched is way onto the Reds’ starting five — or at the very least into the conversation.

Any such arrival will now be further delayed. The Reds haven’t provided further details, but it’s obviously a worrisome sign when a pitcher who’s missed more than two months with a shoulder strain reports discomfort on the heels of a fourth rehab appearance. Presumably, the Reds will provide further details at some point next weekend or early in the following week. For now, Williamson will continue to accrue big league pay and service time on the 60-day injured list. He entered the season with 139 days of MLB service and has already reached one year, placing him on course to reach arbitration after the 2025 season as a Super Two player and free agency after the 2029 campaign.

Pirates Sign Justin Bruihl To Major League Deal

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2:55pm: The Pirates have now made it official and announced the corresponding moves. Right-hander Quinn Priester has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 3, with a right lat muscle injury. To open a 40-man spot, lefty Ryan Borucki has been transferred to the 60-day IL. Borucki has already been on the IL for 60 days, landing there April 6 due to left triceps inflammation. He is eligible to be reinstated at any time but he has not yet begun a rehab assignment.

1:25pm: The Pirates are going to sign left-hander Justin Bruihl to a major league deal this afternoon, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com on X. They will need to make a corresponding move or moves to get him onto their 40-man and active rosters.

The lefty signed a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason but was released earlier this week, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible he had some kind of opt-out in his contract because his results have been pretty good so far this year.

Bruihl, 27 later this month, had been with Triple-A Louisville until recently. He threw 23 1/3 innings over 19 appearances for that club, allowing 2.31 earned runs per nine frames. His 10.3% walk rate in that time was a tad on the high side but he also struck out 24.7% of batters faced while getting grounders on 53.4% of balls in play.

That wasn’t enough to get him onto the big league roster in Cincinnati but the Pirates will bring him back to the majors. Bruihl had some good results for the Dodgers a couple of years ago but struggled last season. He had an ERA of 2.89 with Los Angeles in 2021 and then 3.80 the year after, but had some rough outings in 2023 and got flipped to the Rockies in a cash deal. He had a 5.46 ERA last year between those two clubs and was outrighted by Colorado.

He reached free agency at season’s end, which led to his minors deal with the Reds and he seems to have bounced back enough this year to have caught Pittsburgh’s attention. He’s generally been more of a ground ball guy in the majors, striking out just 15.6% of batters faced but keeping the ball on the ground 45.5% of the time.

The Bucs currently have Aroldis Chapman as the only lefty in their big league bullpen, so Bruihl will give them a second southpaw in the relief mix. Bruihl still has one option year remaining, giving the clubs the flexibility to send him to the minors in the future without exposing him to waivers. If he manages to hang onto his 40-man spot, the Bucs can keep him around for a long time. He came into 2024 with one year and 39 days of service time, 133 days short of the two-year mark. Since more than two months of the season have already passed, he doesn’t have enough days to get to that two-year line this year.

Reds Option Graham Ashcraft

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The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve optioned struggling right-hander Graham Ashcraft to Triple-A Louisville. His spot on the roster will go to reliever Emilio Pagan, who’s being reinstated after a stint on the 15-day injured list due to a triceps injury.

It’s the first time Ashcraft, 26, has been optioned to the minors since May 2022, when he was sent down a day after making his MLB debut in a spot start. The 2019 sixth-rounder started 19 games for Cincinnati in 2022 and another 26 games last year. Were it not for a calf strain and a stress reaction in his foot, he’d have been ticketed for a full slate of starts in the Reds’ rotation last season.

Though Ashcraft has struggled with consistency, he’s at times looked the part of a viable third or fourth starter in the Reds’ rotation. He opened last season with a dominant 2.00 ERA in his first six trips to the hill, and while his K-BB profile didn’t support quite that level of success, he was showing huge ground-ball tendencies and finding success with a new cutter and revamped slider that looked far better than his 2022 version of the same pitch.

A disastrous stretch followed, wherein Ashcraft was shellacked for 47 earned runs in 33 innings over his next eight starts — including outings that saw him yield ten, eight, seven (twice) and six earned runs. Lost as he looked in that span of six weeks, Ashcraft then rattled off a dozen starts of 2.58 ERA ball to close out his season, averaging 6 1/3 innings per start along the way and never allowing more than three runs in any one start. The big righty still had a subpar strikeout rate in that excellent run but offset that flaw with improved command and strong ground-ball tendencies. It was a promising finish to a season — one that seemed to speak louder than his ultimately pedestrian 4.76 ERA.

The 2024 season has again been a struggle, though not to the extent of last year’s eye-popping slump. Ashcraft currently sports a 5.05 ERA with a well below-average 17.4% strikeout rate but a strong 7.5% walk rate and encouraging 49% ground-ball rate. However, after averaging more than six innings per start down the stretch last year and pitching into the sixth inning in five of his first six starts this season, Ashcraft has struggled with efficiency of late. He’s pitched into the sixth just once in his past six trips to the hill. Though he’s averaging less than 4 2/3 frames per outing in this stretch, he’s done so while requiring an average of 89 pitches along the way.

Unsurprisingly, Ashcraft’s results have suffered. He posted a 3.63 ERA through his first six starts but has turned in a 6.83 mark since that time. His walk rate has spiked from 6.1% to 9%, and his strikeout rate has fallen from 20.1% to 14.3%. He’ll now try to get back on track in Louisville.

From a service time vantage point, Ashcraft’s demotion isn’t likely to alter his path to free agency. He entered the season with 1.136 years of MLB service, meaning he only needed another 36 days to reach two years and stay on track for free agency in the 2028-29 offseason. That said, he was on track to be a very likely Super Two player, making him arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three, and that’ll become unlikely if his stay in Louisville lasts more than a couple weeks.

The Reds will continue to deploy a rotation including Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Frankie Montas. Veteran swingman Nick Martinez, signed to a two-year deal, could step back into the rotation in place of Ashcraft for the time being. Triple-A starters Connor Phillips, Christian Roa, Lyon Richardson and Carson Spiers are all on the 40-man roster and could represent alternative options, but Spiers is the only one of that group who’s pitched particularly well in Louisville this season. He’s made four long relief appearances for Cincinnati already this season, totaling 13 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball. Lefty Brandon Williamson has yet to pitch in the big leagues this season due to a shoulder injury but is another candidate, as he’s made four minor league rehab starts and is nearing the end of his rehab window.

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