Tomorrow, the Cincinnati Reds will start the future of the franchise, 2023 draft pick Rhett Lowder, in an MLB game...alongside the future of the franchise Elly de la Cruz...while filling in for future of the franchise Hunter Greene...you're beginning to see why I'm hesitant to declare this a turning point, right?
The Reds and the Orioles are two very similar teams, who have had similar prospect rollout trajectories. First the catcher, who comes out strong and eventually becomes an everyday man, then a starting pitcher who, despite some injury struggles, wows people all over the league, then a second starting pitcher who flirts with greatness but keeps getting injured, then a shortstop prospect who, upon a sophomore year, takes off and becomes an MLB star. But the difference is that Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday have had way more depth than just their entrances. The things that were sort of working before are now really working in 2024, and someone who was a mediocre fill-in guy like Anthony Santander is now one of the best power hitters in baseball.
The Reds, meanwhile, haven't been able to build because they keep running into setback after setback. Matt McLain and Brandon Williamson have been injured all year, Hunter Greene got hurt right when his Cy Young case was taking off, Ashcraft and Lodolo have battled injuries again, and now Candelario, Fraley and Fairchild are all on the IL. When the O's brought up Holliday, they did so because he was ready, and he was the next step in the evolution of the team. The Reds are bringing up Lowder because for the second year in a row, they literally have no other healthy options. Their entire Opening Day starting rotation is hurt. And the rotation the Reds are now going with consists of Carson Spiers, Nick Martinez, Julian Aguiar, Jakob Junis, and...Rhett Lowder, so great of you to join us.
Essentially, the anchor of the rotation is Martinez, as the veteran presence with enough decent seasons under his belt. Martinez was phased out of a starting role in San Diego due to better options appearing, but he was always able to start games, and the Reds knew this when they signed him. So once people started getting hurt, Martinez was the next choice for a good starting weapon, and honestly he's been decent enough. He's got a 5.47 ERA in 10 starts, but he's eating innings and still has 37 Ks. If Brent Suter weren't hurt right now he'd be in this role.
The goal, of course, is for this team to be healthy for long enough to not need all these reserve options and just keep trucking on that pace. But Greene, Abbott, Lodolo and Ashcraft subscribe to the 'throw hard and hopefully the arm gets off easy' theory, and that hasn't gone well for them. I hope Lowder's a little sturdier but who even knows?
I'm just saying that if we need yet another 'future of the franchise' to come down here and try and save this team, the problem might be the franchise itself.
Coming Tomorrow- Last year he caught for a World Series team, this year he's just trying to catch up.
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