The youth movement in Cincinnati continues as the Reds are on the cusp of selecting the contract of left-hander Andrew Abbott, who will make his big league debut tomorrow in a start against the Brewers. The club announced this morning that Abbott had been added to the taxi squad, and details surrounding Abbott’s coming promotion have continued to emerge throughout the morning.
In a session with the media this morning, manager David Bell confirmed the club will go with a six-man rotation for the time being, with Hunter Greene’s next start, originally scheduled for Tuesday, getting pushed back to next Sunday against the Cardinals due to hip stiffness, as relayed by C. Trent Rosencrans of The Athletic. Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer adds that Bell made clear that Abbott’s call-up is not a spot start, though the club won’t stick with a six-man rotation long term. After Abbott’s start tomorrow, Luke Weaver will start on Tuesday in Greene’s place, followed by Brandon Williamson, Graham Ashcraft, and Ben Lively. Abbott will then get a second start on Saturday before Greene takes the ball on Sunday.
Abbott, who just celebrated his 24th birthday this past Thursday, is ranked 95th in MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospect list. A second round pick by the Reds in the 2021 draft, Abbott has dominated the upper minors this season, with a 2.50 ERA in 10 starts (54 innings) split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. In 15 2/3 innings at Double-A this season prior to his promotion to Triple-A, Abbott struck out a ridiculous 64.3% of batters faced. His phenomenal strikeout numbers have continued in Triple-A as well, as he’s punched out 34.8% of Triple-A batters in 38 1/3 innings of work.
Abbott is now tasked with joining the big league club and providing a boost to the Reds, who are in third place in the NL Central despite a weak 26-32 record. While the club’s overall record certainly leaves something to be desired, the club has seen improvement in recent weeks as they’ve made way for young prospects to make an impact on the club, highlighted by the performance of shortstop Matt McLain.
Graham’s craft has turned to ash of late.
I think there is something physically wrong with Graham that he (or the team or both) is hiding. You can tell from his lack of follow through compared to when he was going well. That is why his pitches are now flat. That will get you killed every time in the bigs.
This one belongs to the Reds… I think you’re right. He was really laboring yesterday. The way the Brewers were Teeing off on him, I thought maybe he was tipping his pitches. The more I watched though, you could see that his cutter doesn’t have near the movement on it that it had early in the season. Everytime he threw it, it seemed to break slightly and just hang belt high over the plate.
Maybe too much toasting of marshmallows
I have been calling for this a while. Glad to see it. Welcome to the big leagues Abbott. Now we need a player named Costello, preferably a catcher.
Next Up:
COSTELLO !!
Who is Costello?
Who is Costello
Elvis
7IP, 3H, 1BB, 9SO, 1ER.
Y not ces & dela-cruz need some HR power in this line up send Benson barrero Fairchild down steer ces 1b/dh Cruz 3b senzel back in out field let’s get this off in high gear
I have to consult with an Egyptologist to decipher these hieroglyphics.
Someone has taken a Husqvarna to Redsfan’s verbal garden of delights.
Dude again, you are making all us Reds fans look illiterate. Please stop.
I honestly don’t know what they’re doing. I think they want to create value in Fairchild and Barrero so they can be traded.
It’s infuriating.
I never figured out what they were doing in the offseason either…or rather why they were NOT doing when we all knew 86 or 87 games was going to take a weak NL Central.
Now is no different. I think the kid GM is over his head when it comes to team building.
For the 1,000th anniversary time, who cares if they win the NL Central this year? Does ANYONE care about or remember division winners? They will be one and done in the playoffs if by some chance they sneak in.
The only goal should be to win the World Series. Period. You don’t mortgage the future for a division title.
And the kid GM you go on and on about is in his mid-40s and has been working in the game for 20+ years. His player acquisition has been a net positive for the team.
For the 10,000th tome, you build a winning culture or you accept mediocrity. You seem to prefer the latter thinking you are going to win the World Series by tanking, which is just crazy. If you get in the playoffs, anything could happen. Remember the 1990 team was supposed to finish third and they went wire to wire. The best teams gave a mix of veterans and young talent.
Who cares if they win the Central? The players, coaches, and especially the paying fans. If the first two do not, they should be out of here right away and frankly if I were running things, I wouldn’t want them there.
A defeatist attitude gets you nowhere fast.
Welcome to the majors, Mr. Abbott. I hope you prosper and stick around a long while.
Red fans, please correct me if I’m wrong… but it seems like CES and Elly are being held down until ’24. It would seem like the Reds will double down and hedge their bets for the ROY extra pick? Am I off base??
Also: I’ve been watching Ashcraft closely all season, and while he does seem “off” right now, it seemed to start with his grandmother passing. Could this be the main factor? He broke down in tears at a Press conference (close to Mother’s Day, too) and it really seemed to heavily weigh on him. Forgive me for bringing it up, but it would seem to be correlated to his bad outings. I could be off base… again.
I have always suspected CES and Elly will be called up after vets like Myers and Newman and maybe Senzel are dealt after the all star break so they have spots open in the lineup for them to play every day. Meanwhile, they work on their defense and plate discipline.
That would require another team being interested in any of those players.
Teams actually do their own research to determine that too.
I know that’s hard to believe with some of the money wasted last offseason but there it is.
If you’re a manager and you have Luke Weaver working as a starter, I would imagine it would be very encouraging to him on start days if you sang,
“Ohhhhh Luke Weaver, I believe you can us through sixth”
Good call on Ashcraft. That was his last decent start.
These guys are human beings after all. I knew a guy who quit in the minors cause he was homesick.