The Reds announced Friday that right fielder Nick Castellanos has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 20. Castellanos revealed earlier this week that a CT scan found a microfracture in his right wrist. Cincinnati also placed lefty Amir Garrett on the paternity list. Right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez and infielder Alejo Lopez were recalled from Triple-A in a pair of corresponding moves. Meanwhile, right-hander Jose De Leon, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week, was released.
There’s never a good time for an injury to a team’s best hitter, but Castellanos’ absence will come at a particularly critical time for the Reds, who have seven straight games against divisional opponents leading up to next Friday’s trade deadline. The Reds have lost five of their first six games coming out of the All-Star break, including a sweep at the hands of the first-place Brewers. They’re currently six and a half games back of both the division lead and the second Wild Card spot in the National League.
Suffice it to say, a strong run for the Reds over the next week could embolden the front office to act as buyers in an effort to push for a postseason berth. A particularly poor showing could have the opposite effect. The Reds will now have to make this pivotal push without their most dangerous hitter; Castellanos, who leads the NL in batting average and doubles, is batting .329/.383/.582 through 368 plate appearances.
Cincinnati is also without slugger Mike Moustakas, infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel and three of its best relievers: Tejay Antone, Lucas Sims and Michael Lorenzen. The fact that Garrett is being placed on paternity leave for the next three games against the Cardinals only further thins out the bullpen. The Reds are fortunate that neither the Cubs nor the Cardinals have been playing particularly well in their own right, however, so there’s still a chance for them to make up some ground and the final pre-deadline run.
As for De Leon, the 28-year-old former top prospect will now be free to sign with any club. The former Dodgers and Rays farmhand saw his development slowed by injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, and has yet to develop into the high-quality MLB arm that scouts envisioned in his younger days.
The Reds acquired De Leon from Tampa Bay in exchange for cash last year. Since the swap, he’s whiffed 43 of the 126 batters he’s faced in the Majors (34.1 percent), but he’s also been clobbered for 29 runs. Control has been a problem, as evidenced by a 17.6 percent walk rate and a pair of hit batters in that time.
Get well soon!
I remember watching another Jose DeLeon growing up. He eventually turned into a solid starter but I’ll always remember him going 2-19 for the awful 1985 Pirates, still the worst Bucs team I’ve seen (and that’s saying something). You have to be a fairly talented pitcher on a very bad team to be allowed to go 2-19 without being demoted or released.
Yes, ex White Sox P
60 years old now
Yep, traded from Pirates to White Sox for Bobby Bonilla after the White Sox had taken Bonilla from the Bucs in the Rule 5 draft. The rare trade that arguably worked out OK for both teams.
Mets legend Bobby Bonilla?!?!
That team was horrendous, there was a pitcher on that team however, rick rueschel I think it was, who had an amazing season on that team. Won 15 games or something with a sub 2.4 era, I could easily google it but to lazy lol
Putting up great numbers on a strong staff and winning team is one thing, but I always respect the guys who can make a bad team a great team on his day
Seems like bad timing for a Reds team who’s gotta be looking at whether to be a buyer or seller, and possibly of Castellanos himself?
SDP are 5.5 games out of first, do you think they will sell? Cin is 6.5 out of first with 65+ games to go. So you lost Castellanos, Braves lost Acuna & they’re still trying. Where does this give up & sell attitude come from?. Not good for baseball. We want to see a race horse finish.
Different boat, Reds are fighting for a WC spot in the end, in all other NL divisions besides the west it’s looking like division or bust.
Truth, what are you willing to give up for a potential WC spot…sell
Different boat maybe, consideration should be given to the Reds playing the Pirates 64 more times this season. OK, maybe not that but almost….
Remember when De Leon was this can’t miss prospect?
I remember Dodgers fans being really upset when he got traded, saying that he should’ve been “untouchable”
Hasn’t DeLeon had some arm issues?
Yes, his arm has no ability to throw pitches over the plate.
Haha well done hiflew
Oh yea Dodger fans LOVED this guy to a fault
I was happy to trade him out for any value we could at the time as he just never could find a 3rd pitch or stay upright
Holy cow! De Leon was the guy the Dodgers were trying to swap for Dozier with the Twins. Feels like ages ago. Get healthy and find your groove man!
And again I reaffirm that the pitcher that hit him should be suspended for a period that matches the length of time that Castellanos is unable to play at the major league level.
It is only fair that the pitcher and his team suffer some consequences for an errant pitch that results in injury and lost time for a vulnerable, defenseless batter.
This should be a league mandated rule in every instance of an injury to a better as the result of an errant pitch.
What is the hit batter has to retire? What if the pitcher is 23 and the batter is 40 and would have retired next week? What if the pitcher shows remorse?
The pitchers mostly do show remorse.
I would say that in the event that the injured batter, regardless of age, is forced to retire, the pitcher should be banned for life from all organized US Baseball.
Fair enough – Castellanos played on the 19th, so the pitcher should have been suspended until the 19th, right?
That is a good point. Actually Reds fans should be more upset that David Bell put Castellanos in the game when he knew he was hurt.
Bell didn’t know that he had a micro fracture. Initial tests were negative.
This is such foolishness to suggest. Sometimes mistakes happen, deal.
Granted. But the player who threw the pitch and the team that he plays for suffers no repercussions due to the “Mistake”, inflicting injury on a vulnerable, defenseless batter who then damages his team’s on-field performance because of the resulting inability to play at the major league level.
Your guy is going to miss 10 weeks because he was hit by our pitcher?
SORRY, UH UH UH !!
Defenseless? These are professional athletes. Move out of the way!
If the batter hits a liner at a pitcher would you punish him too?? You don’t punish people for accidents in a sport that a lot of the money is covered by insurance.
Not the same.
Pitcher is SUPPOSED to have control and knowledge of where the pitch is going.
When the batter hits a ball, not knowing what pitch is hit, he has no control of or knowledge of where the batted ball is going.
Absolutely. Reds batters have been hit way too many times and nobody but them has to suffer. We’ve had Suarez with his finger, Blandino with his hand, and now Castellanos. I don’t think I’ve missed anyone. Oops… I forgot that India is the most hit batter in MLB. Sooner or later someone will get seriously injured.
HBP will only rise sans the sticky stuff disappearing
I wonder how much control is actually preached at the college level/minors relative to just throwing as fast as ya can
I am just going to throw out equally ridiculous idea’s…
1. Anytime a player accidentally lets go and loses his bat and a fan gets hit, the player will be suspended until that fan can get back to work.
2. If a player hits a foul ball (Not being able to control his bat) and a player or umpire gets hurt Batter must immediately leave the game. And apologize.
3. If a PGA bowler slips on an over-waxed bowling lane, the Lane-waxer must replace the pins for 2 rolls and take the full brunt of the ball to the face.
.
I know this might be debatable, but the Cardinals have actually been playing well since the all-star break…2-3 from the Giants and then 3-4 from the Cubs(which should have been a sweep)…their outfield is finally healthy and Goldy is starting to hit…I think they should sweep the Reds
Interesting point since the article is about the Reds. But to your random point, no NLC team is going to win the wildcard, and no one is catching the Crew
Thanks for the complement on my post…and yeas, the article is about the Reds…no argument there…but in the article if you read it the author stated “ The Reds are fortunate that neither the Cubs nor the Cardinals have been playing particularly well in their own right, however, so there’s still a chance for them to make up some ground and the final pre-deadline run.”….let the games be played before making your assumption…if..yes, a big if, but Mikolas and Flaherty come back healthy the Cardinals could make a run…let’s not forget 2011 comeback by the cardinals
DeLeon will find a landing spot somewhere where a pitching coach can help him find the strike zone consistently.
He might wanna learn a 3rd pitch as well at sometime, 95+ just doesn’t mean what it use too
If he is smart he would join the giants on minor league deal
This is not on topic and I apologize, but someone, anyone explain to me why one of our catchers hits 3rd, 4th and 5th. And our other catcher hits 6th, 7th or 8th? And the guy hitting later in the lineup plays drastically more often. Please don’t say defense because I’m not here for it.
Stephenson should play 5 out of 7 days. He and India should hit 1 and 3 while Casty is out. And after that he should be hitting 4-5 and playing most days. What is Bell seeing that I’m clearly not?