Astros Acquire Joel Kuhnel

The Reds have traded right-hander Joel Kuhnel to the Astros in exchange for cash considerations, per an announcement by both teams. The move comes days after Kuhnel was designated for assignment by Cincinnati. To make room for Kuhnel on the 40-man roster, the Astros have transferred right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. to the 60-day injured list. The club also announced that they have optioned Kuhnel to Triple-A.

The move marks the end of the Kuhnel’s tenure with the Reds, for whom he has played his entire professional career after the club selected him in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. Kuhnel pitched for Cincinnati in parts of four seasons, with the majority of his appearances coming during the 2022 campaign.

In 58 innings of work last season, Kuhnel posted an abysmal 6.36 ERA. That being said, those terrible run prevention numbers are belie what advanced metrics say was a perfectly solid performance in 2022. Hitters posted an unsustainable .343 BABIP against Kuhnel in 2022 while the right-hander posted an unusually low strand rate of just 60.2% over the course of the season. Kuhnel’s performance is further bolstered by his 22% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate. Taken together, it’s easy to see why advanced metrics thought relatively highly of Kuhnel in 2022, as evidenced by a 3.78 xERA and a 3.52 xFIP.

In all, Kuhnel heads to Houston with a career 6.20 ERA and 4.28 FIP in 74 innings of work across 69 appearances. Going forward, Kuhnel figures to act as depth for an Astros bullpen that ranks top three in the majors with a 3.21 ERA, behind only the Guardians and Yankees. He joins the likes of Matt Gage and Blake Taylor as bullpen depth at the Triple-A level that’s already on the 40-man roster. Kuhnel takes the 40-man roster spot of McCullers, whose placement on the 60-day IL comes as little surprise following his season-ending surgery earlier this week.