Kind of funny how a rotation can completely change in a span of a few years.
In 2020, the Cincinnati Reds' rotation consisted of Trevor Bauer, Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Anthony Desclafani and Wade Miley. 4 out of 6 had excellent seasons with low ERAs. One won a Cy Young. Then they all started leaving.
And now, due to injuries, trades and free agency, only Tyler Mahle is confirmed as a starter going into the 2022 season. That is just two seasons later and, while Castillo will probably rejoin the mix over time, it's really gone down to Mahle and a bunch of completely new people. Heck, one of them, Mike Minor, is already missing time due to an injury.
The rotation schematic that the Reds seem to be going with this season is Maile-Vladimir Gutierrez-Hunter Greene-Nick Lodolo-Reiver Sanmartin. For most casual baseball fans, there were probably a lot of 'who?'s in reaction to that.
The best news about that rotation is that everybody's under 27, and it's a pretty young, compact group. The bad news is that Tyler Mahle is the only one that has over a half a season of major league experience. Gutierrez had a nice second half last year as a rookie, and Reiver Sanmartin got a game or two in at the end of the season, but...you're going into the season with two pitchers with no MLB experience to start the season. Greene and Lodolo, as highly-touted as they are, are essentially risks right out of the gate. They also have had a reasonably shaky spring as starters. You're hoping that's just the start of the season, and that it's not indicative of anything. But you also don't know if it's just...the other teams having more experience than you.
The Reds' chief offensive assets going into the season are Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas, Jonathan India, Nick Senzel and Aristedes Aquino. It's fine, it works I suppose, but without Winker, Suarez and Castellanos, it's going to be very difficult for this team to establish itself, especially with the Brewers, Cardinals and Cubs all going for it this year. I do kind of hope this new young rotation approach works out for them, but...I'm just not convinced yet. Maybe Hunter Greene will take to the majors like a fish to water. Or maybe he'll take to it like a fish to batter.
Coming Tomorrow- Ironically, a discussion on rookies starting the season in the majors, featuring the big prospect coming up for the Mariners.
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