- Reds second-round pick Tyson Lewis received a well overslot $3.0475MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (on X). That was necessary to keep the Nebraska high schooler from attending the University of Arkansas. Evaluators credit the 6’2″ shortstop with plus bat speed and athleticism. Lewis is a longer-term development play who didn’t face great competition in high school. There’s a fair amount of volatility with his hit tool but an intriguing toolset.
Reds Rumors
Yankees Interested In Jonathan India
The Yankees have issues on their infield and have interest in second baseman Jonathan India of the Reds, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. However, Castillo cautions that the Reds aren’t expected to make India available unless they fall out of the playoff race in the next week.
India, 27, is having a resurgent season after a couple of rough campaigns. He has eight home runs this year and is drawing walks in 12.7% of his plate appearances while only striking out 19.7% of the time. His .275/.377/.420 batting line translates to a 123 wRC+, indicating he’s been 23% better than league average at the plate overall.
On top of his offensive contributions, he has stolen nine bases in ten tries. His second base defense hasn’t been well regarded in his career but is better this year, at least by one metric. Defensive Runs Saved still hates him, with a grade of -8 so far this season, but Outs Above Average has him at +1. Since he has -22 OAA in his career, that’s a notable improvement.
At least in terms of the offense, it’s a return to his Rookie of the Year form. He got that trophy in 2021 after he hit 21 home runs and slashed .269/.376/.459 for a wRC+ of 122 while also stealing 12 bases. As mentioned, the past two seasons have been a struggle. India spent time on the injured list due to a right hamstring injury in 2022 and left foot plantar fasciitis in 2023 as he hit a combined .246/.333/.394 in those two campaigns for a 98 wRC+.
Now that he’s back in good form, it’s understandable that the Yankees would want him. In addition to his skills on the field, he’s fairly affordable. He’s making $3.8MM this year and $5MM plus incentives next year, with another season of arbitration control beyond that. That’s likely attractive for the Yankees since they are set to be third-time payors of the competitive balance tax and well over the top threshold, meaning any money they add to their ledger comes with a 110% tax hit.
Despite all that spending, their infield is in rough shape. Ben Rice is doing a passable job covering for the injured Anthony Rizzo at first base, but both second baseman Gleyber Torres and shortstop Anthony Volpe have been subpar at the plate this year.
DJ LeMahieu missed the first two months of the season due to a right foot contusion and has been awful since been reinstated. While playing regularly at third base, he is hitting .183/.275/.229 this year for a wRC+ of just 52. He only has a .217 batting average on balls in play but he’s also not clobbering the ball, with most of his Statcast metrics trending down relative to his previous levels.
India has only ever played second base in his major league career, though he was almost moved into a utility role this year. The Reds graduated a large number of prospects last year, including infielders Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz and Noelvi Marté. The club then added to that group by signing free agent Jeimer Candelario. With India coming off those two rough seasons, he was going to be pushed into bouncing to first base and left field and even found himself in offseason trade rumors.
But that calculation quickly changed when Marté received an 80-game PED suspension and McLain required shoulder surgery. That put India back as the club’s everyday second baseman and it’s still the only position he’s ever played at the big league level.
Unless the Yankees want to get creative, then acquiring India would seemingly cut into the playing time of Torres more than anyone else. There would be some logic to that both from the perspective of 2024 and also beyond, as Torres is an impending free agent while India has a couple of years of additional club control. Torres is also slashing just .230/.307/.351 for a wRC+ of 90 this year with subpar defensive grades as well. The designated hitter slot is currently open with Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list, so it’s theoretically possible for India and Torres to be in the same lineup, but Stanton could be back soon and the Yanks have been putting Aaron Judge in there fairly regularly with Stanton out.
Though he may fit with the Yankees, there’s no guarantee he’s available. As Castillo reported, the Reds are still in the playoff race and may not want to sell. As of this writing, they are 49-53 and just four games away from a playoff spot in the National League. President of baseball operations Nick Krall recently suggested that the club had not yet made firm decisions about its deadline approach.
Cincinnati would naturally prefer to hang onto India if they’re still trying to climb back into the race, but he could be a logical trade candidate if they fall out of things. Marte has since returned from his suspension and McLain could return from his injury absence before the season is out. Though India has gotten back on track this year, the club could theoretically have an infield mix of Marté, De La Cruz, McLain, Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand by next year, with Spencer Steer also in the mix. Candelario is signed to a three-year, $45MM deal that he’s not currently playing up to. The others in that group are still in their pre-arbitration years and likely to be viewed as long-term building blocks by the Reds, which could have India looking like an odd man out again.
But if the Reds hang onto India, the Yankees will face a challenge in finding other infield upgrades, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored in a post for Front Office subscribers. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is perhaps available but he would come with risk as he has been primarily playing in the outfield in recent seasons. The Yanks have been connected to him before but Castillo’s report adds that the Yankees have some concerns about how he would fit in their clubhouse. Isaac Paredes or Brandon Lowe of the Rays could be good fits but big trades between divisional rivals are rare. Other possibilities include Luis Rengifo of the Angels and Nico Hoerner of the Cubs, though it’s unclear if those clubs are willing to part with those players.
Reds Re-Sign Edwin Rios To Minor League Deal
The Reds brought back infielder Edwin Ríos on a minor league contract. He was assigned to Triple-A Louisville, where he’s in tonight’s starting lineup. Ríos had elected free agency on Monday after being designated for assignment.
He’ll again provide a non-roster bat from the left side. Ríos inked a minor league deal over the winter and has spent the bulk of the year in Louisville. He owns a .243/.340/.486 batting line with 11 homers and a robust 11.8% walk rate over 50 contests for the Bats, but he also struck nearly 29% of the time. The Reds gave him a brief look while Jake Fraley was unavailable. Ríos appeared in five games and went 1-9 with a walk.
A career .202/.290/.455 hitter over parts of six MLB seasons, Ríos is mostly limited to the corner infield. He has big power — 21 homers in 335 MLB plate appearances — that comes with an alarming whiff rate. The 30-year-old has fanned in more than a third of his trips to the plate at the major league level.
Reds Likely To Trade From Bullpen Depth
The Reds are telling teams they plan to trade from their bullpen, report C. Trent Rosecrans and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. That is not yet a signal about their deadline direction, though. According to the report, Cincinnati anticipates having a bullpen surplus as they expect Emilio Pagán and Ian Gibaut to return from the injured list next month.
Cincinnati has somewhat quietly had one of the better bullpens in the league. Reds relievers rank seventh with a 3.52 earned run average and are eighth with a 24.5% strikeout rate. The relief group had been a recurring problem before turning into one of the team’s strengths this year. Swingman Nick Martinez has thrived when working from the ’pen. Fernando Cruz has developed into one of the league’s better strikeout arms, while underrated lefty Sam Moll has continued to excel after coming over from the A’s at last year’s deadline.
The Reds don’t have a ton of maneuverability with their relief group. Cruz and Moll have locked down two spots with their performance. Closer Alexis Díaz has been inconsistent, but Cincinnati isn’t going to send him down. Justin Wilson, Buck Farmer and Lucas Sims all have the requisite service time to decline a minor league assignment. Cincinnati can’t option Tony Santillan back to the minors after selecting his contract two weeks ago.
That leaves one bullpen spot with a five-man rotation. Martinez is currently working from the starting five but could slide back to the ’pen once Carson Spiers returns from the injured list. That’d essentially complete the bullpen without having any obvious candidates to bounce between Great American Ball Park and Triple-A Louisville.
If they needed a fresh arm at that point, the Reds could designate someone for assignment. While Farmer has a 2.80 ERA over 45 innings, his strikeout and walk profile is pedestrian. Santillan had spent virtually the entire season in Triple-A, but The Athletic writes that the Reds view him as a key piece and would not want to put him back on waivers. Cincinnati could get Gibaut, Pagán and lefty Brent Suter back from injury later in the season.
While they’ll likely deal with other injuries along the way, the Reds obviously won’t be able to make any trades after next Tuesday. It seems they’re preemptively trying to get something in return for at least one or two of their relievers rather than lose players via waivers in August. The most obvious candidates for such a move are their impending free agents: Sims, Farmer and Wilson.
None of that trio would bring back a significant return. Sims, who is playing on a $2.85MM arbitration salary, has the highest ceiling of that group. He misses bats and has worked in a high-leverage capacity for the last few seasons, but he issues too many walks to be an in-demand trade chip. Sims is handing out free passes at a 13% clip over 33 frames this year after walking more than 15% of batters faced last season.
Wilson missed virtually all of 2022-23 because of Tommy John surgery and a lat injury. He returned this year with his typical velocity and has fanned more than a quarter of opponents with a 5.2% walk rate. A .365 average on balls in play has led to an unimpressive 4.85 ERA, but the 36-year-old is a fine option for teams seeking another left-hander in middle relief. Wilson is making a $1.5MM base salary.
Martinez is making $14MM this year and has a $12MM player option for next season. He’s pitching well, turning in a 3.88 ERA with excellent control over 72 frames. The fairly lofty salary and ’25 player option could lead teams to look elsewhere, though. It’s also not clear if the Reds want to deal Martinez, whose versatility they could value if they still anticipate making a playoff push.
General manager Nick Krall told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer yesterday that the front office had not decided on their overall deadline outlook. They’re five games under .500 and in last place in the NL Central, yet they’re within 4.5 games of a Wild Card spot in a wide open National League. Cincinnati’s game against the Braves tonight was rained out. They’ll make it up with a doubleheader on Wednesday. They play a weekend set in Tampa Bay and one game against the Cubs before the deadline.
Krall: Reds Have Not Declared Themselves Sellers
July 23: Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall pushed back on Morosi’s report, telling Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s had conversations with the majority of the league but has “not gone down one road that specific.”
Krall’s comments came on the heels of a Cincinnati victory over Atlanta last night. That win kept the Reds within four games of a Wild Card spot in the National League, albeit in an extraordinarily tightly bunched race. Though they’re only four games back, the Reds would need to vault past the Giants, Cubs, D-backs, Padres, Pirates and one of the Mets or Cardinals in order to move into Wild Card position. The Cubs are actually a half-game up on the Reds in the standings, and their own president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, publicly conceded just last night that his focus will be on 2025 and beyond.
The next few days will likely be pivotal for the Reds as they chart their course for the remainder of the season. They have two games left against the Braves, followed by three road games against the Rays. They’ll host the Cubs on the evening of July 29 — their final game before the July 30 deadline.
July 21: Back in early July, when the Reds were 41-45 and just a few games out of the NL Wild Card race, club GM Brad Meador suggested that the club was not yet ready to commit to a strategy for this year’s trade deadline. Flash forward to today, and fallen to a record of 47-53 after getting swept by the Nationals coming out of the All-Star break. It appears that recent performance may have been enough for the club to officially set course, as Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the club has begun to inform rival clubs that they are willing to part with players on expiring contracts.
It’s hardly a surprise that Cincinnati would limit any sell-off to rental pieces. After all, the club has an exciting core of young talent led by star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and right-hander Hunter Greene that figures to keep the Reds in the playoff conversation in the coming years, and this season has been complicated by injuries to key pieces such as Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, TJ Friedl, Brandon Williamson, and Graham Ashcraft. By maintaining that core of players as well as veteran pieces under longer-term control such as Jonathan India and Jeimer Candelario, the Reds can remain fairly well positioned to load back up for the 2025 campaign this winter and make another attempt at returning to contention.
The Reds’ list of pending free agents is a relatively short one, but it nonetheless has some interesting names. Right-hander Frankie Montas, whose $20MM mutual option for 2025 is all but certain to be declined, is perhaps the player with the most name recognition that the club could look to move. Righty Nick Martinez has a $12MM player option for 2025 and could also be made available, while outfielder Austin Slater (who the Reds acquired from San Francisco just two weeks ago), lefty Justin Wilson, and right-handers Buck Farmer and Lucas Sims will each see their contracts run out at season’s end.
According to Morosi, the Orioles are among the clubs to have interest in Cincinnati’s rental pitchers, including Montas and Martinez. The fit between Baltimore and either of those two pieces is somewhat obvious, as the Orioles have lost starters Kyle Bradish, John Means, and Tyler Wells to season-ending surgery this year. That’s left them to put together a patchwork rotation filled out by Dean Kremer and Albert Suarez behind front-end duo Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez. At least one more playoff-caliber starter would make plenty of sense for the Orioles, and they would likely benefit from adding additional depth beyond that as well.
Whether Montas, 31, constitutes a playoff-caliber starter at this point in his career is up for debate. The righty has struggled badly with the Reds in 89 innings (18 starts) this year, posting a 4.85 ERA and 5.04 FIP which are both roughly 15% worse than league average. While Montas has allowed three runs or fewer in 12 of his 18 starts this year, blow-up starts have been a fairly frequent occurrence for the righty, including a combined 12 runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings in his last two starts against the Nationals and Rockies.
Bleak as his recent performance has been, Montas isn’t far removed from a stretch of mid-rotation success with the A’s from 2018 to 2022 where he posted 3.70 ERA and 3.61 FIP in 99 appearances. With that being said, it can’t be ignored that Montas underwent shoulder surgery back in February of last year. Since his return from going under the knife, his peripherals are those of a completely different pitcher. He’s struck out just 18.7% of batters faced after entering 2023 with a career 24.3% strikeout rate, and after allowing free passes to just 7.8% of opponents through the end of the 2022 season he’s watched his walk rate balloon to 10% since undergoing surgery. Even with those flaws, however, Montas’s track record as a quality mid-rotation arm could still certainly attract interest from pitching-hungry suitors.
Martinez, however, could prove to be the better fit for the Orioles’ needs. The right-hander has found a niche as one of the best swingmen in the game over the past three seasons with San Diego and Cincinnati, and this season the 33-year-old boasts a solid 3.88 ERA with an even stronger 3.15 FIP. While his 18.9% walk rate isn’t anything to write home about, he’s limited walks to a clip of just 3% this year while surrendering just six home runs in 72 innings of work. Martinez has been used primarily in relief this year, although he made five starts for the Reds early in the season and demonstrated the ability to move between the rotation and bullpen with relative ease during his time in San Diego. The veteran righty would offer the Orioles pitching depth for both the bullpen and rotation down the stretch, possibly working out of the rotation for the remainder of the regular season before moving into the bullpen during the playoffs.
Of course, Baltimore is far from the only club that could be interesting in the Reds’ available rentals. The Dodgers, Astros, Red Sox, and Padres are among the other teams known to be in the market for starting pitching, while virtually every contender is typically on the prowl for rental bullpen help this time of year and could have interest in either Martinez in a relief role or a rental bullpen arm like Wilson, Farmer, or Sims.
Edwin Ríos Elects Free Agency
Infielder Edwin Ríos recently elected free agency, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Reds last week and was sent outright to Triple-A Louisville after clearing waivers, but he instead exercised his right to return to the open market.
Ríos, 30, started the year on a minor league deal with the Reds and had a nice run at Triple-A. He got into 50 games for the Bats and hit 11 home runs while drawing walks at an 11.8% clip. He also struck out in 28.6% of his plate appearances but his .243/.340/.486 batting line still translated to a solid wRC+ of 108.
He was called up by Cincinnati a few weeks ago but didn’t get much playing time, which has been a theme of his career. The Reds gave him just ten plate appearances in five games during his two weeks on the roster. The Reds acquired Austin Slater from the Giants and also welcomed players like Stuart Fairchild and Jake Fraley back from absences and Ríos got squeezed off.
Players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright have the ability to elect free agency rather than accept another outright assignment. Ríos qualifies on both of those counts and now used that right to look for a new gig on the open market.
Ríos has always hit well in the minors and also had a nice start to his major league career with the Dodgers. In 2019 and 2020, he slashed .260/.338/.634 in the big leagues with Los Angeles but was limited to 139 plate appearances on a fairly crowded roster. In 2021, he was limited to just 60 trips to the plate and struggled to a line of .078/.217/.137 but then bounced back in 2022. Though he still only got 92 plate appearances, he hit seven home runs and slashed .244/.293/.500 in those.
By the end of 2022, he had 20 homers in just 291 trips to the plate and a .219/.299/.492 batting line that translated to a 112 wRC+. But he qualified for arbitration by crossing the three-year service mark and the Dodgers decided not to tender him a contract. He signed with the Cubs and continued hitting well in the minors but slashed just .071/.235/.214 in the small sample of 34 plate appearances he got at the major league level. He exhausted his final option season last year and was outrighted off the roster in the middle of the campaign.
Since the start of 2018, Ríos has hit .272/.347/.511 and a produced a 110 wRC+ in almost 1400 Triple-A plate appearances. Despite that consistently strong work and his encouraging showing with the Dodgers in the majors a few years ago, he still hasn’t cracked 100 plate appearances in any individual MLB season. Defensively, he provides a bit of versatility since he has lined up at the four corner spots at the major league level.
29 clubs passed on the chance to grab Ríos from the Reds, so he’s likely looking at a minor league deal in the coming days or weeks. With the trade deadline coming up on July 30, it’s possible that some new opportunities might open up for him. If he finds a role anywhere, he is out of options but has less than four years of service time and could theoretically be retained via arbitration beyond this season.
Reds Notes: Suter, Friedl, Kiermaier
The Reds announced earlier today that they’ve placed left-hander Brent Suter on the 15-day IL due to a partial tear of his left teres major muscle. As noted by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the club had at least some concern that the injury would prove serious enough that Suter would be out for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Fortunately, Suter himself told reporters (including those at Bally Sports Cincinnati) that his current timeline is not quite that bleak. The lefty’s expected shutdown time is between four and six weeks, though he’ll of course have to build back up to game-ready form after that.
While that timeline leaves the door open for Suter to return sometime in September, the news is nonetheless a major blow to the Reds’ relief corps. The bullpen has been a major strength for Cincinnati this year, as the club’s 3.44 collective bullpen ERA is the sixth-best figure in the majors while their 3.65 FIP ranks seventh. Suter has been a huge part of that success as the 34-year-old has posted a solid 3.68 ERA in a whopping 51 1/3 innings of work this year. That means Suter has accounted for just under 15% of the total innings thrown by the Reds bullpen this year, an innings total that leads the team.
With both Suter and right-hander Carson Spiers having recently hit the IL in Cincinnati, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club pursue bullpen reinforcements in the coming weeks. Reds brass indicated earlier this month they had not yet committed to a strategy for the trade deadline this year, though it’s worth noting that the club did swing a trade for outfielder Austin Slater just days after those comments, suggesting an openness to adding to the big league roster on at least some level. A look at MLBTR’s Top 50 Trade Candidates For The 2024 MLB Trade Deadline reveals a number of interesting relief arms available, ranging from star A’s rookie Mason Miller to White Sox reclamation project Michael Kopech.
The Slater deal isn’t the only indication that the Reds could be looking to add this summer. According to Wittenmyer, the club “touched base” regarding Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier when the club put him on waivers earlier this month, though of course no deal has come together to this point. Kiermaier would offer the Reds a quality defensive center fielder who could act as a lefty platoon option for right-handed bats Slater and Stuart Fairchild, although it’s worth noting that Kiermaier has struggled badly (53 wRC+) at the plate this year. A stronger offensive fit Wittenmyer suggests for the Reds would be Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas, though he cautions that such a fit would depend on the price of acquiring 28-year-old.
While the Reds’ dearth of quality options in the outfield makes it an easily identifiable place where the club could improve its stock this summer, they may be on the verge of adding impact to the outfield mix internally. According to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, center fielder TJ Friedl is slated to head out for a minor league rehab assignment tomorrow with the hope of returning to the lineup in Cincinnati for this weekend’s series against the Rays. Friedl has been limited to just 26 games by injuries this year but is only one season removed from a 4-win campaign in 2023 where he posted a strong 116 wRC+ while slugging 18 home runs, stealing 27 bases, and playing strong defense in center across 138 games. That 20/30 potential in center field is tantalizing, and it’s easy to see how Friedl could help to transform the club’s outfield mix if he’s finally healthy after dealing with a fractured wrist and a hamstring strain this year.
Reds Designate Edwin Ríos For Assignment
The Reds announced today that outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been activated from the 10-day injured list with infielder Edwin Ríos designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Ríos, 30, was just added to the roster a couple of weeks ago. He received 10 plate appearances in five games but recorded just one walk and one hit, a single, while striking out four times. That’s a fairly meaningless sample size but he may have been squeezed out by forces beyond his control. In addition to Fairchild’s return from the IL, Jake Fraley has returned from a stint on the family medical emergency list and the club acquired Austin Slater from the Giants. On top of that, Rece Hinds has slashed an absurd .423/.464/1.192 in his first seven major league games.
The Reds gave Ríos a couple of starts at first base and a few pinch-hitting opportunities but it would have been hard to get into the lineup with those developments in the outfield. Spencer Steer had been playing some left field but might now be pushed to spending more time at first base, splitting that spot and designated hitter with Jeimer Candelario as the outfield is manned by Fraley, Fairchild, Slater, Hinds and Will Benson. Candelario can also play third but the club has Noelvi Marté getting regular run there.
Since Ríos is out of options, the Reds had to cut him from the 40-man roster entirely to squeeze him off the active roster. Prior to getting called up, Ríos got into 50 Triple-A games with some success. He hit 11 home runs and was drawing walks at an 11.8% clip, though he was also striking out 11.8% of the time. His .243/.340/.486 batting line translated to a 108 wRC+.
The Reds will have a week to trade Ríos or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, that leaves five days for them to explore any trade interest. Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency, with Ríos qualifying on both counts.
Prior to this stint with the Reds, he had played with the Dodgers and Cubs. This is his sixth straight season getting MLB time but he’s never been able to stick around for more than 32 games in any individual year. Overall, he has 335 plate appearances over 135 games with 21 home runs and a batting line of .202/.290/.455 for a wRC+ of 100.
Reds Sign No. 2 Overall Pick Chase Burns
The Reds announced this evening that they’ve officially signed second overall pick Chase Burns. MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reports (on X) the the right-hander received a $9.25MM signing bonus. While that’s a bit shy of the $9.79MM slot value, it’s the largest signing bonus in draft history. Burns edges past the $9.2MM which Paul Skenes secured as last year’s first overall pick.
It’s possible that record will only stand for a few days. Burns is the first player from this year’s top 10 to sign. First overall pick Travis Bazzana (and potentially #3 selection Charlie Condon) could land a loftier bonus in the coming weeks. That won’t be of much concern to Burns, the first pitcher to come off the board last week. While Burns was widely expected to be the top pitcher selected, he was a slightly surprising pick at #2. Condon and West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherholt — who “slipped” to the Cardinals at #7 — were marginally ahead of Burns on most public rankings heading into the draft, largely because of the heightened injury risk for pitchers.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Keith Law of the Athletic each had Burns as the #5 player in the class. FanGraphs slotted him sixth, while Baseball America ranked him fourth. All four publications had Burns and Arkansas lefty Hagen Smith as the top two pitchers in some order.
Burns was a high-profile draft prospect as a high schooler back in 2021. Teams weren’t willing to meet his asking price at the time, leading the 6’3″ righty to the University of Tennessee. Burns had two strong seasons in Knoxville and transferred to Wake Forest for his draft year. He started 16 times for the Demon Deacons, firing 100 innings with a 2.70 earned run average. Burns fanned nearly half the batters he faced and easily led Division I pitchers with 191 strikeouts. Smith was second in the nation with 161 punchouts. He kept his walk rate to a 7.7% clip and finished his college career with a 40% strikeout rate against a 7.6% walk percentage.
With that level of dominance, it’s not surprising that prospect evaluators suggest Burns has a top-of-the-rotation ceiling. Reports credit him with an upper-90s fastball that can run as high as 100 or 101 MPH. That pitch and his wipeout slider have each gotten 70 or 80 grades on the 20-80 scouting scale. Burns’ curveball and changeup are a bit behind the fastball/slider combination and scouting reports point to some effort in his delivery, but there’s not much question about his ability to stick as a starter. Both Law and McDaniel note that he could move quickly through the minors.
Cincinnati selected another Wake Forest righty, Rhett Lowder, in the top 10 a year ago. They’re hopeful that duo will join Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott as part of a homegrown starting staff. There’s injury risk with any group of young pitchers and the Reds will need more than five starters on an annual basis, but that quintet could be the nucleus of one of the sport’s best rotations if things break right over the next couple seasons.
Reds Sign Patrick Weigel To Minor League Deal
Right-hander Patrick Weigel, who’s spent the bulk of the season pitching with the Mexican League’s Saraperos de Saltillo, has signed a minor league deal with the Reds, as first announced by his now-former club. Weigel was assigned to Double-A Chattanooga and tossed a perfect inning with one strikeout on Sunday.
Weigel, who turned 30 last week, pitched in a pair of big league seasons in 2020-21. The former seventh-round pick ranked as one of the Braves’ top organizational pitching prospects for years, climbing as high as the system’s ninth-best prospect on Baseball America’s 2017 list and ranking within BA’s top 20 Braves prospects each year from 2017-21.
Despite being a prospect of some note for more than a half decade, Weigel has just 4 2/3 innings at the big league level under his belt. He yielded four earned runs on six hits and seven walks with nine punchouts in that tiny sample. He’s posted sterling numbers throughout the lower and middle levels of the minors but stumbled a bit upon reaching Triple-A, where he carries a career 4.68 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 209 2/3 innings across parts of four seasons.
Weigel’s run with Atlanta came to an end in 2021, when the Braves traded him to the Brewers alongside fellow righty Chad Sobotka in the deal that netted current shortstop Orlando Arcia. Weigel was cut loose following that 2021 season and has since pitched for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate and for the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association in addition to this year’s stint in Mexico.
He’ll need to pitch his way into bullpen consideration for the Reds, but Sunday’s spotless frame was a good start — and his work in a very hitter-friendly Mexican League setting was intriguing as well. Weigel tossed 37 2/3 innings and worked to a sharp 2.87 earned run average while fanning 28.3% of his opponents against a tidy 7.9% walk rate.