Blue Jays Designate Shaun Anderson For Assignment
The Blue Jays have designated righty Shaun Anderson for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Matt Peacock, whose previously reported waiver claim has now been announced by the team.
Anderson’s stay on the 40-man roster lasted a bit less than two weeks, as he was initially selected in late June. He made a lone big league appearance, serving up two runs in a mop-up relief inning during a win over the Red Sox. The 27-year-old has otherwise spent the entire season with the Jays’ top affiliate in Buffalo, posting a 3.88 ERA through 48 2/3 innings. That’s solid run prevention, but Anderson has only struck out 20.1% of opposing hitters at the top minor league level.
While the former third-round pick has spent most of this season in the minors, Anderson has a fairly lengthy track record in the big leagues. He’s appeared in parts of four campaigns, with the majority of his work coming as a rookie with the 2019 Giants. He posted a 5.44 ERA through 96 innings that year, starting 16 of his 28 outings. Over the next few seasons, Anderson has worked exclusively in relief at the major league level, although he’s gotten six starts in Buffalo this year. Altogether, he owns a 5.84 ERA in 135 2/3 MLB frames split between five different teams (San Francisco, the Twins, Orioles, Padres and Jays).
Toronto will have a week to trade Anderson or place him on waivers. The Jays succeeded in passing him through waivers last fall after grabbing him from San Diego. That previous outright means Anderson would have the right to refuse another assignment in favor of minor league free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.
Reds Place Tyler Mahle On Injured List With Shoulder Strain
2:54pm: Mahle tells reporters that an MRI revealed only irritation but no structural damage (Twitter thread via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Mahle said the issue is “not concerning at all” and that he plans to return shortly after the All-Star break.
1:28pm: The Reds announced Wednesday that right-hander Tyler Mahle has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder strain. The move is retroactive to Sunday. Righty Ian Gibaut, whom the Reds claimed off waivers this week, will take his spot on the active roster. Cincinnati also announced that catcher Chris Okey cleared waivers and will remain in the organization after being assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville.
Mahle, one of the more notable trade candidates in the National League, had been scheduled to start a game for the Reds tomorrow. The team has not yet provided a timetable on his potential return, but the earliest he’ll be able to return is just two weeks prior to the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
The timing of the injury is brutal for the Reds, who have watched as Mahle has shaken off a poor start and rounded into form as next month’s deadline looms. After pitching to a grisly 7.01 ERA through six starts and walking 14 of the first 120 hitters he faced (11.7%), Mahle has rebounded to the tune of a 3.51 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 8.0% walk rate across his past 66 2/3 frames. Nearly one-third of the 26 runs he’s allowed dating back to May 8 came in one nightmare outing against the Cubs on May 24 (eight runs in four innings). Since that start, Mahle owns a 2.58 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in 45 1/3 frames.
For much of the season — and for much of the offseason — it’s looked as though Mahle, teammate Luis Castillo and A’s ace Frankie Montas would be the three most coveted names on the trade market. All three are affordably controlled through the 2023 season and have made substantial strides in recent years to establish themselves as (at least) quality mid-rotation hurlers. Now, with Mahle on the injured list for a yet-to-be-determined period and Montas dealing with shoulder inflammation of his own, Castillo suddenly stands as the lone, healthy member of that heavily speculated-upon trio.
It’s still possible, of course, that Mahle makes a quick return from the IL, pitches well and that his medical records look sufficiently clean for a trade to come together. There’s little denying that a shoulder strain just three-plus weeks from the deadline, however, is going to give any number of would-be trade partners a fair bit of trepidation regarding the righty’s short- and long-term outlook. If the Reds are ultimately unable to move Mahle, they’d be able to try again this winter or at the 2023 deadline, health permitting. His value won’t be nearly as high at either juncture, however.
With Mahle shelved for at least the next couple weeks, an even broader focus will be placed on Castillo, who has been excellent since missing the first month of the season recovering from a spring shoulder injury. Utilityman Brandon Drury has become an oft-suggested trade candidate, but the Reds also have a series of other possible candidates. Outfielders Tyler Naquin and Tommy Pham and southpaw Mike Minor are among the other veterans the Reds could peddle in the weeks to come.
Blue Jays Claim Matt Peacock
The Blue Jays have claimed right-hander Matt Peacock off waivers from the Royals, as first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). Kansas City had designated Peacock for assignment last week.
Peacock, 28, has split the 2022 season so far between the Diamondbacks and Royals, yielding six runs in 10 big league innings. The former 23rd-round pick debuted with the D-backs last season but posted a pedestrian 4.90 ERA over 86 1/3 innings, logging an ugly 13% strikeout rate in that time. However, Peacock also posted a strong 7.7% walk rate and an outstanding 59.2% ground-ball rate in his debut campaign, and his rate stats from this season’s small sample of work generally match those displayed in his rookie effort.
He’s still only pitched 18 career innings at the Triple-A level, and the resulting 7.50 ERA isn’t much to look at. Peacock, though, has a 3.02 mark through a much larger sample of 116 2/3 innings at the Double-A level and has a history of huge ground-ball rates and low walk rates. He’s in his second minor league option year, so if the Jays hang onto him for more than a brief stint, he can be optioned freely both this year and next. If nothing else, he’ll provide some short-term depth to a staff that hasn’t performed up to expectations this year.
The Toronto pitching staff ranks 22nd in baseball with a 4.15 ERA and 16th with a 4.01 FIP. Part of that has been due to injury. Hyun Jin Ryu is done for the season and much of next following June’s Tommy John surgery. Nate Pearson has yet to throw a big league frame owing to both a lengthy bout of mononucleosis and now a lat strain. In the bullpen — Peacock’s likely role — the Jays are currently without Yimi Garcia and Julian Merryweather.
That said, the Jays also haven’t gotten the contributions they expected or hoped for from some key members of the staff. Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi have struggled for much of the season in the rotation, as has Trevor Richards in the bullpen. Jordan Romano‘s numbers overall are strong, but he’s hit a few bumps in the road after notching a 1.35 ERA through the season’s first month (4.02 ERA, 15.7% walk rate over his past 15 2/3 innings).
Orioles Claim Kirk McCarty, Designate Marcos Diplan For Assignment
The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed lefty Kirk McCarty off waivers from the Guardians and opened a spot on the roster by designating righty Marcos Diplan for assignment. Baltimore also shuffled up its bullpen by optioning lefty Nick Vespi to Triple-A Norfolk and recalling righty Beau Sulser in his place.
McCarty made his big league debut with the O’s this season but was hit hard, surrendering 13 runs (12 earned) on 18 hits and six walks with eight punchouts in a dozen innings. Of those 18 hits he yielded, a whopping six were home runs.
That said, the 26-year-old McCarty has pitched fairly well in Triple-A this season, notching a 3.77 ERA with a below-average 18.7% strikeout rate but a strong 7.1% walk rate. He also has all three minor league option years remaining (2022 included), which creates the potential that he could serve as rotation depth in Baltimore beyond the current season. The Orioles’ rotation has been in a constant state of flux throughout their rebuild, so having some extra optionable depth on hand is never a bad thing.
Alternatively, the O’s could try McCarty in the ‘pen to see just how much his 92 mph average fastball velocity might tick up (and perhaps to focus more heavily on one of his three secondary offerings — likely his curveball). The O’s are currently getting excellent work from both Cionel Perez and Keegan Akin, but there’s plenty of fluidity on the fringes of the relief corps and no reason the O’s couldn’t carry three lefty relievers.
As for the 25-year-old Diplan, he’s appeared in each of the past two seasons with the O’s, pitching to a combined 4.04 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate in 35 2/3 innings off work. He’s yielded just one run earned run in 5 2/3 big league innings so far in 2022, albeit with a less-appealing 8-to-5 K/BB ratio. He also carries a 3.12 ERA in a a total of 43 2/3 career innings of Triple-A ball, but those same command issues have persisted in the upper minors; Diplan has walked 24 of the 197 hitters he’s faced in Triple-A (12.2%) and hit another pair.
The O’s have passed Diplan through outright waivers unclaimed on two occasions in the past — once in 2020 and once in 2021. Both times, he’s returned to the organization. Because of those prior outrights, he can reject another outright assignment if he clears waivers a third time. The O’s will have a week to trade him, try to put him through waivers, or release him.
Frankie Montas To Miss Next Start Due To Shoulder Inflammation
Athletics ace Frankie Montas, who experienced a worrying velocity drop over the weekend, underwent an MRI that revealed shoulder inflammation, team trainer Nick Paparesta announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). He’ll receive a cortisone injection and miss his next start, but there’s no further timeline on his absence for now. Notably, the A’s have not yet placed Montas on the injured list, and Paparesta noted that the MRI did not show any structural damage in Montas’ shoulder.
While Montas has avoided the injured list for the time being, it’s still a concerning development for a pitcher who, along with Reds righty Luis Castillo, is widely viewed as one of the prizes of this summer’s trade market. The A’s tore down the bulk of their core over the winter, shipping Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea out in a series of cost-cutting trades that also built up what had become an increasingly thin farm system.
The expectation was that Montas would follow his teammates out the door, but the A’s never found a return they deemed in line with what was reportedly a sky-high asking price. He ultimately stayed put, started for the A’s on Opening Day, and has been the subject of trade speculation throughout the season.
Today’s announcement obviously doesn’t preclude the possibility of a trade, but any recent shoulder issue is going to make interested teams somewhat leery, even if they’ll be able to review all of Montas’ medical records first-hand. And, of course, if the current shoulder ailment is a portent for an absence of any real note, the A’s will likely lose the opportunity to extract peak value a player who was very arguably their most marketable trade chip even dating back to the offseason.
Montas is controlled through the 2023 season via arbitration, meaning they’d have the entire 2022-23 offseason to try again, assuming the right-hander is healthy at that point. They’d also have the first half of the 2023 campaign. That said, the trade value of a healthy Montas won’t ever be higher than it is right now, and if the A’s are unable to move him due to injury, they’ll no doubt be left feeling as though they overplayed their hand.
The 29-year-old Montas has been every bit as good this season as he was in a breakout 2021 showing, pitching to a 3.26 ERA over 17 starts — a total of 96 2/3 innings. The righty’s 25.8% strikeout rate is just barely south of last year’s 26.6% strikeout rate — strikeouts are down league-wide, on the whole — and he’s made improvements in his walk rate (6.2% compared to last year’s 7.3%), ground-ball rate (47.1% to 42.3%), average exit velocity (88.6 mph to 89.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (36.6% to 42.2%). Montas is making $5MM this year and will be eligible for arbitration once more this winter before reaching free agency following the 2023 campaign.
Cubs Place Kyle Hendricks On Injured List
12:00pm: The Cubs announced that righty Anderson Espinoza is being recalled from Double-A to take Hendricks’ place on the roster.
11:30am: The Cubs have placed right-hander Kyle Hendricks on the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder strain, manager David Ross announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago). Hendricks exited last night’s game after three innings due to soreness in his right shoulder. The team will announce a corresponding roster move later today. No recovery timetable has been provided at this time.
Hendricks, 32, is in the midst of a second straight season of lackluster results, as his 4.80 ERA through 84 1/3 frames thus far is a near-mirror image of the 4.77 he posted through 181 innings a year ago. The soft-tossing righty’s 18.5% strikeout rate is an improvement upon last year’s 16.7% clip (the second-worst of his career), but he’s also seen his walk rate rise from 5.6% in 2021 to 6.7% in 2022. It’s been something of a Jeykll-and-Hyde season for Hendricks, who has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his starts this year but has also been torched for six or more runs on four separate occasions.
Signed to a four-year, $55.5MM contract extension late in the spring of 2019, Hendricks is being paid $14MM this season and is due to earn $14MM again in 2023. The Cubs then hold a $16MM option for the 2024 season, which can be bought out for $1.5MM.
The timing of the injury isn’t great for the Cubs if they had any thoughts about potentially marketing Hendricks prior to the Aug. 2 trade deadline. While he’s no longer the steadily excellent performer he was from 2014-20 (3.12 ERA in 1047 1/3 innings), Hendricks might still have held some appeal as a back-of-the-rotation veteran — particularly if the Cubs were willing to cover some of the remaining money on the contract. Instead, he’ll be sidelined at least two weeks and perhaps more. That still leaves some time between his earliest potential activation date and the Aug. 2 deadline, but the shoulder issue makes a deal even more of a long shot than it might’ve already been, due to the financial component of a deal.
Hendricks joins a full rotation’s worth of talent on the injured list for the Cubs, who are also currently without Marcus Stroman, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly, Alec Mills and Adbert Alzolay due to various injuries. At the moment, the only healthy rotation options are Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Adrian Sampson.
Given that huge slate of injuries, it’s possible that Espinoza, once one of the game’s top-ranked pitching prospects, could get some opportunities in the rotation. Injuries and the canceled minor league season in 2020 kept Espinoza off the mound entirely from 2017-20, however, and he’s had a brutal showing thus far in a dozen Double-A starts. Through 44 1/3 innings with the Cubs’ Tennessee affiliate, the 24-year-old Espinoza has a 7.11 ERA with 10 home runs allowed. He’s fanned 27.8% of his Double-A opponents but also issued walks at a 12.9% clip and plunked another five batters (representing an additional 2.6% of his total hitters faced).
Pirates Getting Plenty Of Interest In Jose Quintana
When the Pirates signed Jose Quintana to a one-year, $2MM contract over the winter, it was clear from the jump that if he performed well, he’d be among the most surefire trade candidates on the market. Fast forward seven months, and Quintana has done just that, turning in a vintage showing that resembles his peak years with the White Sox. Unsurprisingly, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that Quintana is among the “most popular” names being discussed in what is still the nascent stages of the summer trade market.
This was likely always the plan for the Pirates: buy low on a pitcher with some track record who could potentially pitch his way into a trade chip. It’s a common tactic for rebuilding clubs, and one the Bucs have tried in the past under GM Ben Cherington (although Quintana is a bit more high-profile than either Tyler Anderson or Trevor Cahill were at the time of their deals with Pittsburgh). So far, it could scarcely have gone better.
Through 16 starts, Quintana has pitched to a 3.33 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout rate, a 7.3% walk rate and a 43.2% ground-ball rate. Those numbers stack up quite nicely with Quintana’s rates from his 2013-16 peak (20.8% strikeout rate, 6.0% walk rate, 43.7% grounder rate). He’s getting by with less life on his fastball than in the past — 91.1 mph average in 2022, 92.4 mph average from 2013-16 — but that’s hardly unexpected when comparing a pitcher’s age-23 through age-26 seasons to his age-33 campaign. And while some of the improvement in his plate discipline trends is likely reflective of the overall increase in strikeouts in recent years, it’s still notable that Quintana is sitting on an 11.7% swinging-strike rate and 35.6% opponents’ chase rate — both career-bests as a starting pitcher.
The Pirates have been judicious with Quintana’s workload and with the frequency (or lack thereof) with which they allow him to turn a lineup over for a third time. The veteran lefty is averaging just over five innings per start (81 innings, 16 starts), and only 54 of the 342 hitters he’s faced this season have been seeing Quintana for the third time on a given day. He’s acquitted himself quite well in those settings, yielding only a .208/.296/.313 batting line when facing hitters a third time, but the Bucs have only allowed him to pitch beyond the fifth inning in seven of his 16 starts.
Occasionally, Quintana has forced their hand with a rough showing early on, but those blips have been rare. Quintana has allowed more than three runs in only three of those 16 starts, and in one of those instances, three of the runs were unearned. The Bucs have seemingly been willing to give they lefty more leash after keeping his pitch counts low early in the season. He averaged 79 pitches per outing through his first five turns but has since averaged 90 pitches per start in 11 outings.
There’s little point in speculating on specific fits when it comes to Quintana, as the majority of contenders could use a solid arm to plug into the middle or back of their rotation. And, with just a $2MM salary on the season — about $995K of which remains to be paid out as of this writing — even the most cash-strapped clubs can take on the remainder of his salary without much issue.
Trades of note this far in advance of the deadline are increasingly rare in the modern game, as teams often wait until the final days to determine how aggressively to add — or whether to add at all. Even clear-cut sellers often hold off on conducting swaps of significance, as demand figures to increase closer to the deadline. That said, there’s zero doubt that the 33-47 Pirates (-113 run differential) will be open to moving short-term veterans this summer, so if a team wants to step up with an offer of note earlier than usual, the Bucs could be less reluctant to move than some other, more borderline sellers might be.
Marlins Outright Erik Gonzalez
Infielder Erik Gonzalez cleared outright waivers following last week’s DFA and has been assigned to the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Gonzalez, who was designated for assignment last week when the Marlins selected the contract of veteran center fielder Billy Hamilton, has enough service time to reject the assignment and elect free agency if he chooses.
The 30-year-old Gonzalez has had a pair of stints with Miami this season, hitting at a combined .189/.268/.216 clip in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. He entered the 2022 season with a more palatable, albeit still well below-average, career batting line of .245/.276/.345 (853 plate appearances).
Miami is the third big league stop of Gonzalez’s seven-year big league career. He’s previously spent time in Cleveland and in Pittsburgh but has primarily filled a utility role. The versatile infielder has never topped 81 games played or 229 plate appearances in a single Major League season.
Along the way, Gonzalez has appeared at all four infield positions and in all three outfield slots, although the vast majority of his time has been split between shortstop (781 innings), third base (655 innings) and second base (384 innings). Gonzalez has plus defensive ratings at all three of those positions per each of Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average, with his work at third base, in particular, standing out (13 DRS, 4 OAA).
The right-handed-hitting Gonzalez opened the year with a .339/.376/.431 showing through 186 plate appearances in Triple-A. He’s a career .268/.308/.396 hitter in just over 1200 plate appearances at that level.
Mets Activate Max Scherzer, Designate Chasen Shreve For Assignment
The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Chasen Shreve for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for ace Max Scherzer, who has been reinstated from the injured list and is slated to start tonight’s game.
Scherzer’s return comes just over six weeks after his original placement on the injured list due to a strained oblique muscle. The three-time Cy Young winner, who inked a record three-year, $130MM contract this offseason, pulled himself from his May 18 start against the Cardinals after feeling the strain pop up midway through the sixth inning. A subsequent MRI revealed the strain. He’s made a pair of rehab appearances with Double-A Binghamton over the past couple weeks, tossing a total of eight innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio in that time.
Prior to landing on the shelf, Scherzer was every bit the ace the Mets hoped when signing him for the highest annual rate ever received by any player. He’s made eight starts so far in 2022, tallying 49 2/3 innings with a 2.54 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate against an excellent 5.7% walk rate. The Mets are in first place even without any contributions from Scherzer over the past week and without a single inning yet from co-ace and fellow multi-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who has been sidelined all year after a stress reaction was found in his right shoulder blade.
With deGrom on a rehab assignment and Scherzer back on the active roster, however, the Mets are nearing the debut of the dynamic rotation they anticipated as the focal point of what they hope to be a World Series contender. Scherzer and deGrom will be joined by Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco when the team is up to full strength. Depth options Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Trevor Williams have all given ample reason to be optimistic about the pitching talent even beyond that quintet, though Megill’s numbers dwindled as the season progressed and he’s now on the injured list himself.
As for Shreve, who’ll turn 32 next week, he’s been unable to build on a strong 2021 showing with the Pirates and a solid 2020 season with this same Mets club. The veteran southpaw notched a tidy 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings from 2020-21 and owns a similarly solid 3.72 mark dating back to 2017. However, his 2022 season has been nightmarish, as he’s been tagged for a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 frames in his second stint with the Mets.
Shreve’s 25.4% strikeout rate is nearly identical to his career 25.6% mark, and this year’s 8.8% walk rate is actually his lowest since a 12-inning debut with the Braves back in 2014. Unfortunately for Shreve and for the Mets, he’s been extremely homer-prone in 2022, surrendering an average of 2.05 long balls per nine innings. That’s been a driving factor behind his inability to strand runners (career-worst 62.9% in 2022).
In Shreve’s defense, his numbers through mid-June were roughly in line with his career totals. As late into the season as June 7, Shreve was sporting a 3.86 ERA with FIP and xFIP marks that largely supported his ERA. Over his next five appearances, however, Shreve was tattooed for 10 runs on 11 hits — including three homers — in just 5 1/3 innings. As with any reliever, a few rough outings can inflate your numbers in a hurry, and it seems Shreve won’t be given the opportunity to right the ship with his current club.
The Mets will have a week to trade Shreve, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him. He’s playing the year on a $1.5MM salary and has about $762K of that sum yet to be paid out. As a player with more than five years of MLB service time, Shreve has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency while still retaining his salary. A new team that claims or acquires Shreve would be on the hook for the whole sum (barring any cash included by the Mets in a trade), but if he clears waivers and opts for free agency, a new club would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The Mets would remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.
Reds Claim Ian Gibaut, Designate Chris Okey For Assignment
2:32pm: The Reds announced Gibaut has indeed been claimed off waivers and Lodolo has been reinstated from the 60-day IL. In a series of corresponding moves, Cincinnati optioned infielder/outfielder Max Schrock to Triple-A Louisville, transferred righty Tony Santillan from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL and designated catcher Chris Okey for assignment.
Santillan has been out since mid-June with a back strain, and his move to the 60-day injured list means he won’t be able to return until at least mid-August. It’s been a tough season overall for the righty, who has pitched to a 5.49 ERA with below-average strikeout (21.9%) and walk (12.5%) tendencies so far.
Okey, 27, made his big league debut last month and went 2-for-12 with five strikeouts in a total of 13 plate appearances. A 2016 second-round pick by the Reds, he’s never produced much at the plate in parts of six professional seasons, as evidenced by a career .209/.283/.331 slash in the minors. The Reds will have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers, or release him.
Notably, it seems as though Cincinnati may not yet be done making its slate of pregame roster moves. Both Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer have noted, via Twitter, that Tyler Naquin is in the Reds’ clubhouse after completing a minor league rehab assignment. It seems likely that he’ll be activated for today’s game, but the team has not announced that move (or a corresponding transaction) just yet.
1:58pm: The Reds have claimed right-hander Ian Gibaut off waivers from the Dodgers, reports Juan Toribio of MLB.com (via Twitter). Los Angeles had designated Gibaut for assignment over the weekend. Between the Gibaut claim and left-hander Nick Lodolo‘s forthcoming reinstatement from the 60-day injured list, Cincinnati will need to make multiple 40-man roster moves today.
An 11th-round pick of the Rays back in 2015, the now-28-year-old Gibaut is set to join his third organization in just over a week’s time. He opened the year with the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate and made one long relief appearance upon being selected to the big league roster before Cleveland designated him for assignment. The Dodgers scooped Gibaut up off waivers, but he didn’t pitch for L.A. before a second DFA. Gibaut is out of minor league options, so the Reds will need to carry him on the big league roster.
Gibaut has pitched in parts of four Major League seasons, compiling 34 2/3 innings with a 5.19 ERA between four teams (Rangers, Rays, Twins, Guardians). He posted better numbers with the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate in Columbus to begin the 2022 season — 3.20 ERA in 19 2/3 innings — and has a career 4.15 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate in 136 2/3 innings.
It’s a small sample of 2022 data so far, but Gibaut’s 95.3 mph average fastball (2019-21) has jumped up to 97.1 mph so far. He’s also shown well above-average ability to spin his curveball. Both traits, paired with a solid Triple-A track record, likely appealed to the Reds.