The Reds announced a trio of roster moves, including the selection of Randy Wynne’s contract from Triple-A Louisville. Cincinnati also called up righty Levi Stoudt from Triple-A, and Stoudt will get the start today against the Braves. To create roster space, the Reds designated right-hander Silvino Bracho for assignment.
Wynne will be making his Major League debut with his first appearance, and that personal milestone could come as early as today in relief of Stoudt. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith notes that Stoudt is just recently back from a ribcage injury and isn’t fully built up for a proper starter’s workload, so Stoudt might not last long no matter how he fares against the Atlanta lineup. Wynne has been a swingman for much of his pro career, and the Reds could employ something of a piggyback system between Stoudt and Wynne today.
Wynne is an undrafted right-hander who pitched in independent baseball for parts of the 2016-19 seasons before finally catching on with the Reds in 2019. He continued with the organization after the canceled 2020 minor league season, pitching at Double-A in 2021 and then at Triple-A in each of the last two years. Wynne doesn’t record many strikeouts or grounders, as he relies on soft contact and an impressive walk rate to keep batters in check. Over 164 1/3 innings at Triple-A, the 30-year-old Wynne has a 4.82 ERA over 164 1/3 innings, starting 29 of 38 games.
Stoudt and Wynne could each get some looks in the rotation as the Reds try to navigate multiple pitching injuries. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Ben Lively are all sidelined, and while Graham Ashcraft was activated from the 15-day IL yesterday, the good news of his return was tempered by Lively heading to the injured list with pectoral soreness. Lively had been slated to start today’s game, which is why Cincinnati is turning to their latest backup plan of Stoudt.
This is the second time the Reds have DFA’ed Bracho this season, as he was previously designated and then outrighted off the roster back in May. Bracho’s contract was selected again just a few days ago, and over his two stints in Cincinnati has posted a 3.68 ERA in 7 1/3 relief innings, with an equal number (six) of strikeouts and walks. Bracho already passed on the opportunity to elect minor league free agency the last time he was outrighted off the Reds’ 40-man roster, but assuming he clears DFA waivers again, he still has the right to reject another outright assignment and test the open market.
Bracho has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons, debuting with the Diamondbacks in 2015. After four up-and-down seasons, he underwent a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for basically all of the 2019-20 seasons, save for one inning in one game with Arizona in 2020. Bracho then caught on with the Giants, Red Sox, and Braves before landing in Cincinnati on a minor league contract this past winter, though the right-hander’s only other Major League experience in 2021-22 was 4 1/3 innings with Atlanta last season.
Definite chance Luke Maile might be called on to mop-up an inning or two today. Congrats to Wynne for getting to the show.
nice positive outlook, guy….this year is like winning with house money. you can do better
So can they rather than bringing up guys they found UNDER the dumpster. These kids deserve better than have their hard fought progress stymied by bad pitching.
When a dead fish wrapped in newspaper showed up in the Reds clubhouse this morning, everyone knew Bracho was gone.
A case of mistaken identity, it was really for Silvio Bracco.
I see this as an absolute Wynne.
They are in Wynne now mode
Ashcraft looked just as bad yesterday as he did June 8, that leg injury was fake, We were at the game. All last week we heard about AA pitcher Connor Phillips, then last night he couldn’t get out of the first inning with Chattanooga. ‘Positive momentum ‘could stop quickly if Krall cant figure out additional SP.
I still say Ashcraft has something going on which started long before the leg injury. You don’t go from a high ground ball rate to a guy giving up bombs unless there is sonething throwing your mechanics off.
Agreed 100%. For some mystical unknown reason Ashcraft lost his sinker pitch and even with the time off he comes back with same poor results. That’s bad news for the Reds at this point. This season is a real tough one for Reds management to say the least. They might be secretly wishing that they were in last place now instead of first. Do you trade the future for now or do just go with the cards dealt this year and spend money on free agents for next year. Painful either way. I vote stay with what we have, maybe some minor trade to eat some innings and open the pocket book next year and spend for ABOVE average players.
They should have opened the pocket book last offseason. It was obvious to Stevie Wonder that the NL Central was there for the taking because no team was stellar. They chose instead to sit on their hands and give a big middle finger to the fans…and the players too for that matter. Ask yourself if that won’t factor in a decision to leave or not in a free agency scenario when it comes. It’s not always about money.
I was able to watch all 3 games this weekend with the Braves. The pitching is down to bare bones. Not even much to staff a minor league team. The good news is the position players. I was really impressed with McLain. and also De La Cruz. Steer seems to be solid as well. I could be wrong about Votto. He seems to have something left. A larger sample size is needed. Friedl and Fraley are decent also. With Marte and CES on the way, the offense is in good shape. They need to get the pitchers healthy and sign a couple of stopgap starters in the off season until some of the youngsters are ready at the lower levels of the minors. ,.
The fact they hung in every one of those games despite having bare bones pitching and frankly, playing a team that out payrolled them says a lot about the competitive nature of these kids.
I for one am looking forward to the next few years. I just hope the front office helps them, because they sure haven’t so far.
Agree. They need pitching and pitchers that can stay healthy in the worst way. Trades and free agency are the only ways to get it. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Randy Is back and ready to Wynne…oh not that randy winn
Randy Wynne! Played for my local club here in Sydney Australia, didn’t know the bloke but had filthy stuff and was fun to watch. Good luck mate