The Cincinnati Reds have remained quiet on who would start the game for them on Tuesday night for a while. It was a poorly kept secret that the Reds were considering Lucas Sims as early as Thursday when news came out that he wasn’t going to be pitching in his normally scheduled spot on Saturday in the Louisville rotation. Jason Linden reported this over the weekend:
Saw Sims getting work in the bullpen today. Threw to some batters even. Asked pitching coach Jeff Fassero. He was “not at liberty to say.” The Reds need a starter for Tuesday, remember.
— Jason Linden (@JasonLinden) May 25, 2019
After game 2 of the double header, which the Reds won 8-1, it was announced that it would indeed be Lucas Sims that would be making the start against the Pirates on Tuesday night at 6:40pm.
Lucas Sims has made nine starts for the Louisville Bats this season. The 25-year-old right hander has posted a 4.06 ERA in 44.1 innings. The league as a whole has an ERA of 5.01, so he’s been significantly better than the league at preventing runs. He’s done so by missing tons of bats. He’s struck out 63 batters this season with Louisville. That’s good for a strikeout rate of 33% for the Bats. He has walked 16 batters and given up 6 home runs this season.
Quick Lucas Sims Scouting Report
He’s mostly a 2-pitch guy, using his fastball and curveball an overwhelming majority of the time. He will mix in a change up at times, though. The curveball is easily his best pitch and it can be a plus offering. It’s his go-to, put-away pitch and look for him to lean on it when he’s ahead in the count. His fastball will work anywhere from 91-95 on most days.
Roster moves forthcoming
As noted by David Bell in the interview above, the roster moves that will be made prior to the game are not yet decided. They probably are, but the Reds aren’t ready to say what they are at this point. Lucas Sims is already on the 40-man roster, so he just needs to have a spot cleared for him on the 25-man. There will need to be more than one move made. Thanks to the double header, the current roster has 26 players on it.
Good to see Sims get a start.Bowman and Reed covered 3 innings last night while it was in first a 6-1 then 8-1 game they got it done without much noise from the Bucs.Both have better stuff and are younger then some of the other guys in the pen but they will probably both be sent down.Reds offense though asleep for a few innings the last 6 games is coming around.I hope Winker gets rid of that platoon tag after his 3rd straight multi hit game but its doubtful as long as the Reds insist Peraza tries to get out of his season long slump in the majors
How I wish they would send down Peraza and bring up one of the kids hitting well down on the farm.
They already have one of them up on the team. And still couldn’t get him a start during a double header
Peraza is quickly becoming another Drew Stubbs/Billy Hamilton. Young players that had massive potential if only they could get on base consistently. Unfortunately, the Reds stuck with Stubbs for almost four years and Hamilton over five. Peraza has now been with the Reds for parts of four seasons. It will be interesting to see whether he is offered a new contract this winter if he doesn’t show significant signs of improvement the remainder of the 2019 season. With him being arbitration-eligible, his salary will only rise. Signing Gennett and Iglesias to three or four-year extensions may be a better investment.
Sims and the Reds get it done today.Move to 3 under and never look back.You heard it first.
Let’s break that 0-9 streak at not getting to 3 under!
And lets get Jose a 2 year team friendly deal to sew up the SS position.
Seriously? Duvall hit poorly last season for the Reds and was even worse after getting traded to the Braves. He isn’t even on a major league roster this year. Whose spot would he take on the Reds’ roster currently?
As a side note, Duvall was the second, throw-in piece in the Leake trade in addition to Mella.
Peraza still getting those at bats over Farmer and VanMeter.Truly amazing and predictable.We still win despite Peraza in and Joey out.Gulp! Billy must have sold what he had on this front office to Peraza before he left.Gulp! Gulp!
I just checked the Pirates career batting stats against Sims. Based on those alone, statistically speaking, Sims will pitch a no-hitter tonight. Ain’t statistics fun?