The Cincinnati Reds announced today that right-handed pitchers Sonny Gray and Jeff Hoffman would join the Triple-A Louisville Bats this week to make rehab appearances as they work their way back from injuries.
Jeff Hoffman is set to make his first rehab appearance tonight for the Louisville Bats as they open up a home series against Indianapolis. It’s been nearly a month since he was on the mound. On May 26th he made a start against the Washington Nationals but exited the game with an injury in the 2nd inning after having walked five batters without recording a strikeout. The righty has been recovering from the shoulder injury since, but is now ready to get back on the mound.
A starting pitcher for the Reds in the first two months, he may not have a spot in the rotation to come back to when he returns. That may not be a bad thing as he’s been significantly better the first time through the lineup than the second time through the lineup this season, and as a reliever he’s not likely to face guys for a second time. That could benefit the bullpen that needs as much help as it can possibly get right now. With that said, the plan is to build him up as a starting pitcher with multiple outings that will increase his usage each time out.
For Sonny Gray, he will make his rehab start on Thursday for the Bats. He last pitched against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 8th. Gray left the game in the middle of the start, injuring himself while warming up between the 3rd and 4th innings. He had been on a roll during the game, tossing 3.0 shutout innings with five strikeouts before the injury.
He’s set to throw 3.0 innings in his rehab start. Assuming that all goes well he would then rejoin the Cincinnati Reds rotation five days later.
The return of Gray will be great, and hopefully Hoffman can find a role in the pen. It would be nice to replace Doolittle and Hendrix off the 26 man.
Garrett seems to be effective if he’s in the right situations. Sims has been doing well, but I think he has been overworked. Antone is the obvious bullpen Ace. If Hoffman, and Santillan work out in the pen we might be ok. OK is just that, OK. So we still need to make a trade, and spend a little money Bob, and get a setup man or closer.
I’ve seen enough to believe that this team is good enough to win it all if healthy. The thing is that it is rare to have a roster fully healthy for any real amount of time. Injuries happen to every team. It hurts some teams worse than others, though.
I believe the reds should move mahle to the pen. His style is a better fit for the bulpen. Mahle Antone Sims and then Lorenzen then i think we have something
Hoffman goes to without giving anything up not too bad I suppose
I just watched the replay of the Winker 2 run double. Why was he just standing in the batters box the whole time? did he really think that was going to be a homerun?
i have been a big supporter of Bell but the poor base running falls directly on his shoulders. he has to clean it up. Maybe he should pull A Jim Riggleman and have the players do base running drills before and after each game but it has to get better. In my opinion the poor baserunning has been more frustrating than the poor relief pitching
I agree but relief pitching has by far cost us games. I dont understand the stand at the plate and admire thing. If you hit it run. Stuff you should have learned in Little League.
Bullpen will get stronger by addition of Gray to rotation and moving Hoffman to pen. FO can really provide a huge boost to team by acquiring a quality set up/closer. Come on Bob, step up. Mike Brown is out spending you.