The Reds placed left-hander Sam Moll on the 15-day injured list today, and called up righty Casey Legumina from Triple-A Louisville in a corresponding move. Moll is dealing with a left shoulder impingement, and it is “not likely” that he’ll return before the season is over, as the southpaw told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Moll has been trying to pitch through the injury for a few weeks, and the issue might even date back to last season, when Moll said he was also trying to pitch through some shoulder discomfort in order to contribute to a contending Reds team. Coming into this season, Moll began the year on the 15-day injured list and didn’t make his season debut until April 23.
“I obviously don’t want it to snowball to what it did last offseason, where it screwed up my offseason as far as preparation and leading into obviously what I dealt with earlier this year,” Moll said. It isn’t yet known if Moll will just need to rest his shoulder, or if some kind of procedure could be needed to address the problem.
Despite the lack of a proper ramp-up in the spring, Moll still delivered some quality innings out of Cincinnati’s bullpen. If this is indeed it for his 2024 campaign, he’ll finish the season with a 3.35 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate, and 46.9% grounder rate over 37 2/3 innings and 48 appearances. Moll isn’t a particularly hard thrower, but his sinker and sweeper are plus pitches that induce a lot of soft contact. Left-handed batters have only a .430 OPS in 63 plate appearances against Moll this year, and he has also been effective against righty swingers to the tune of a .719 OPS in 89 PA.
This solid 2024 season comes on the heels of the 0.73 ERA Moll posted in the 24 2/3 innings he pitched for the Reds in 2023 after Cincinnati acquired him from the A’s at the trade deadline. A veteran of five MLB seasons, Moll will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter as he enters his age-33 season. If no injury-related complications interfere with the Reds’ decision to tender Moll a contract, he’ll be in line for a nice raise to get him out of the minimum-salary range.