The Reds are going to advertise pitching prospect Rhett Lowder, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic on X. The younger righty will begin for Cincinnati on Friday, making his main league debut. The membership might want to open spots on each the energetic and 40-man rosters to create space for Lowder.
Lowder, now 22, was a standout throughout his time at Wake Forest. In his last 12 months with the Demon Deacons, he tossed 120 1/3 innings, permitting 1.87 earned runs per 9. He struck out 38.6% of batters confronted whereas giving out walks simply 6.5% of the time. He was one of many high ranked gamers within the 2023 draft and the Reds took him seventh total, the second pitcher taken after the Pirates took Paul Skenes with the primary total decide, with Lowder ultimately signing and receiving a $5.7MM bonus.
The younger righty didn’t make his skilled debut final 12 months, however he was nonetheless thought-about one of many high 100 prospects within the sport primarily based on his faculty numbers and draft pedigree. Right here in 2024, the Reds began him off at Excessive-A, however his time there proved to be brief. In 5 begins, he tossed 25 1/3 innings with a 2.49 ERA, 28.4% strikeout fee, 5.9% stroll fee and 49.2% floor ball fee.
That bought him bumped to Double-A, the place he made 16 begins with a 4.31 ERA however higher peripherals. He had a 23.8% strikeout fee, 5.6% stroll fee and 50.9% floor ball fee. If it weren’t for a reasonably excessive .333 batting common on balls in play, he would have fared higher, which is why his 3.33 FIP was virtually a full run higher than his ERA.
Lowder then bought bumped to Triple-A and made one good begin there, tossing six shutout innings on Thursday final week. Although Lowder’s numbers have continued to impress, he might not have been promoted to the majors if it weren’t for the membership getting devastated by accidents. Within the month of August, the Reds have misplaced Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Christian Roa to the injured checklist.
Shedding a bunch of arms like that will be a problem for any membership, however the Reds already had guys like Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson on the IL. Additionally, they’ve a double-header on Friday and simply began a stretch of enjoying eight video games in seven days. The present rotation combine includes rookie Julian Aguiar and swingmen who’ve been ran into beginning roles, equivalent to Nick Martinez, Carson Spiers and Junis.
Maybe this can simply be a spot begin to assist the membership navigate this difficult patch of the schedule. Even when Lowder stays a bit longer than one outing, the Reds will certainly be retaining his rookie standing intact a technique or one other. The membership is now 9 video games out of a playoff spot and doesn’t have a powerful likelihood of cracking the postseason at this level.
Lowder is already a consensus high prospect within the sport. Baseball America at the moment has him within the #38 slot total. FanGraphs has him at #73, MLB Pipeline at #35 and ESPN at #55. Assuming the Reds don’t let him toss 50 innings this 12 months, he’ll nonetheless be a rookie going into 2025 and can seemingly nonetheless be on these lists in some type.
That can enable the Reds to doubtlessly benefit from the prospect promotion incentive. To fight service time manipulation, the collective bargaining settlement awards draft picks to golf equipment if sure circumstances are met. If the participant is on two of three high 100 lists at BA, MLB Pipeline and ESPN with lower than 60 days of service time, after which is promoted early sufficient in a season to get a full 12 months of service, he can earn his membership an additional draft decide simply after the primary spherical by both successful Rookie of the Yr or ending within the high three in MVP or Cy Younger voting throughout his pre-arbitration years.
At this level, the Reds don’t have a lot left to play for in 2024, so they may most likely look to maintain that PPI incentive on the desk. However for now, they’ll get give Lowder a style of massive league life as they trudge by means of this viscous portion of the schedule. Although the membership is at the moment in tough form as a result of all these well being issues, followers can dream of a future rotation consisting of Lowder, Greene, Abbott, Lodolo and others going ahead, as nobody in that group is slated totally free company till after 2027.
