The Cincinnati Reds have called up right-handed reliever Eduardo Salazar from Triple-A Louisville. To make room on the roster for him, Cincinnati designated Silvino Bracho for assignment.
He began the year in Double-A Chattanooga where he allowed one earned run in nine appearances out of the Lookouts bullpen that covered 13.1 innings pitched. Salazar struck out 22 batters and had just two walks during that time. Last week I speculated and talked about how he may be the next pitcher called up from the minors.
That start to the year, showing that the transition from starting pitcher to reliever was going about as well as possible, Cincinnati promoted him up to Triple-A to join the Bats. Salazar has made three appearances there, not allowed a run in 4.1 innings, walked one, and added in three strikeouts.
Put those two stops together and you’ve got a right-handed reliever with a 0.51 ERA this season in 17.2 innings who has walked three batters and struck out 25. Hitters are hitting .209/.254/.209 against him. You read that correctly – he has not allowed an extra-base hit this season in 71 plate appearances against him. What’s helped him do that has been an elite rate of groundballs this year. Between his two stops he’s posted a groundball rate of 63%. While the minor leagues are not the big leagues, a 63% groundball rate would be the best in the big leagues among qualified pitchers this season. Only three pitchers are above 60% this season and the league average is just 43%.
He’s throwing a sinker with a bunch of sink to it around 94 MPH. He is also mixing in a change up at 88 MPH and a slider at 86 MPH. The change up doesn’t get used as often as the sinker and slider do – he has not thrown a change up to right-handed hitters while in Triple-A this season.
You can see his career stats here.
For Silvino Bracho, his stay in Cincinnati was short-lived. He pitched in four games this season with the Reds and posted a 5.06 ERA in 5.1 innings. Control was a struggle for him as he walked five batters during his four outings. He had only walked four batters in 14.1 innings this season with Louisville prior to being called up.
Good call on Salazar. If he pitches only half as well as he is in Louisville, it would be a big boost to the bullpen. At the very least, he should be able to go 2-3 innings when necessary. So double down, who is the next call up and when?
Bracho was not horrible, nor even very bad. Unless the analytics are terrible, they should hang on to him – he’s a step up from the various other AAAA relievers we’ve seen the past few seasons.
If Salazar is productive they’ll have a real find to go along with Diaz. More of that please.
Also note that Abbott and Petty had very good outings this afternoon.
Good call Doug.
Reds need some good news on young pitching development as The big 3 have had a significant May regression.
Today’s line up is out. Basically, batters 6-9 (Fairchild, Newman, Maile and Barerro) are pretty much automatic outs at this point.
I don’t care what Jake Fraley hits against left handers, he needs to play every day.
I concur, Votto.
You could change your nic to “JakeF4Life”. Just kidding. 😉
He has been pretty lame against LH pitching, but give him a hundred or so AB’s against Lefties, and see if he improves.
David that’s a great idea. I may have to do that next year!
From what I’ve seen when he does face LH pitching he does hit the ball hard at times without anything to show for it. Considering what he’s done this year and who’s available to replace him I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a good idea to give him some every day time at least for now.
Maile has played well. You’re dissin’ him a bit there.
Automatic? What’s wrong with you? Newman already has a double, single, and three RBIs. So against us, you might as well be rooting for the Cardinals. Now, Fairchild has two hits and they were automatic!
You were almost half right, Votto.
There’s a few other starters down there that could probably make a leap if they were moved to the bullpen
As that Dayton staff starts to get promoted Boyle and Benschoter should both move to the bullpen. Unless Roa’s recent stretch is for real he should as well
Abbott was very impressive this afternoon. Pitching 6-1/3 innings, giving up 1 run, and 9 KOs.
CES hit his 11th HR. Giving him about 1 hr per 11 AB’s . That’s kind of Babe Ruth territory. 😉 Needs more time in AAA though.
Salazar is indeed a very talented RH pitcher. But…doesn’t he need more AAA experience? In this case, need and talent trumps experience. Funny how that works, huh?
Fernando Cruz got hit pretty hard in relief at AAA ball today too. So, he might be down there a while.
And yeah, Bracho was not that bad. I think a lot of his crooked numbers come from one particular appearance.
Senzel in lf, well I guess we will see how his defense is in lf.
We know he’s adequate in CF (though that’s where he’s gotten injured before). The one time I saw him in RF, he looked way out of his depth. I have to figure LF is the easiest of the 3 spots.
Making room for Elly? I’d prefer CF, but don’t think that’s going to happen. If/when he is promoted, does Mclain move to 2b and India to 3rd or does India DH more?
We can complain about how Senzel got to this point for hours until our faces are blue, but here we are and it aint changin’. His best and surest use for a major league roster is as an IF/OF who can hit LHP off the bench or as a spot starter or injury fill in.
Plus like you say, Elly is gonna need a spot. It’s time to make room. Whatever youre preferred combo, it looks like India/Elly/McClain is gonna be your 2B/SS/3B soon, so let’s find a role for Senzel too.
Considering De La Cruz, who had a double, an RBI, a run scored, a sac fly, and two SB today by the way hitting .282/.375/.590 after starting 1-21, has played 3B at AAA, what will probably happen until the off season is EDLC 3B, McLain SS, India 2B. There might be a lot of “trying new positions” in the off season.
Not their best defense alignment. But look at the “utility”. Bell needs to go.
Other teams seem to be doing it as well. The utility player or playing multiple positions. Not just the reds.
Yeah I guarantee whomever the next manager might be will use Senzel similarly. It’s likely his best ceiling to be a UTIL.
How many utility player HoF’ers are there? All-Stars? How many OF games by Votto? Hint 7, six in his first year. How games did Larkin play other than SS? 3 his first season. Utility is a shortcut to institutional mediocrity.
I’m sure there are HOF players that played more than one position. Players that good dont need to switch, they get their best position. Senzel is not a HOF player. As an institution, I’d also value flexibility if the need arose.
Yeah, @2020, I’m sure we all want our GO performing heart surgery
@LDS, HOF catcher Johnny Bench made 182 starts at 3B, 98 at 1B and 96 across the outfield–that is 19 percent of his starts. Another HOF-caliber player named Pete moved all over the field, too.
More importantly, I don’t see a single position player on the current roster anywhere close to a HOF trajectory.
How many future hall-of-famers are on the Reds’ current roster? Pete Rose–in the alternate universe HOF–played multiple positions. Ditto Bench. Ditto Babe Ruth. You will say correctly that they weren’t utility players, but the Reds have a number of guys who are, and it’s a skill that is useful. As Kevin notes, other teams use utility players, too. They also pay attention to handedness splits and pull starting pitchers earlier than we think they should. The game has changed.
Good analogy, LDS: we’ll remember to request that a Hall of Fame ballplayer who only played one position be the guy who does our heart surgery.
Was Bracho really the worst guy down in the bullpen? I thought he had been okay, actually.
I’d rather take Joel Kuhnel or Alan Busenitz off the 40-man than Bracho.
Or Ricky “14.5 BB/9” Karcher… (seriously, we’re afraid someone would claim him?)
No, he wasn’t. But Bracho is a typical guy should be a plus above average player in order to be considered as non-expendable-40-man-roster piece. Since he was just an NRI in ST has been sometimes good and sometimes not so good so this is the result…I had high hopes on him before the start of this season thinking he could be maybe another Fernando Cruz or similar…
@ Dan.
Yes, the mystery of Joel Kuhnel continues. And Ricky Karcher.
He throws hard, but, his prospects of rising about AAA are slim.
Bracho is a marginal ML pitcher, which does not mean he could not be valuable….more valuable than Kuhnel and Karcher. I guess since they are younger, there is always the possibility that one day they may “get it”.
There is no defending Bracho. He’s JAG. Life’s not fair. Ask CES. He would be in Cincy if he was on the 40 man roster. Kuhnel and Karcher have minor league options hence why they are in AAA and not being DFA. Louisville has to field a team. Likely Bracho clears waivers and maybe he accepts assignment to Louisville.
.286/.348/.548 is Maile’s line after the last game he played. On what planet does that qualify as an automatic out?
Yeah, he has been surprisingly good offensively and appears to be very good defensively.
And now we see how that turned out. Newman with good defense, two hits, a walk, three rbi’s and a stolen base. Steer with four hits and good defense at first. Newman’s best spot is as a utility guy who can play 2nd, 3rd and ss, but right now, he’s part of the mix and gets some starts, and he’s contributing when he does.
Just grumpy fans. Maile needs more PT not less. I do not like to see Newman in the lineup regularly. If India needs a day off, McLain can play 2B with Barrero at SS. Newman is not a bad player but he is a DFA candidate after the All Star break
Newman is currently our fourth best hitter vs lefties this year. The other three are McLain (only 3 at bats vs lefties) and Maile (backup catcher) and Senzel. No one else that close except Ramos, and he’s on the IL.
Also, he was even better vs lefties all last year.
Why in the world would you want to DFA him? The Reds have sucked against lefties this year. It’s the only time Newman should be in the lineup.
“Newman is not a bad player but he is a DFA candidate after the All Star break”
Sooner if possible.
Just saw the actual lineup. I’ll join the grumpy fan club. Newman at 3B. Senzel in LF. I understand the need to get Senzel some LF reps but Steer can play 3B. Maile at DH? What’s next Casali in CF and Ashcraft at 2B?
Coaches know Newman is very good defensively and can play third base very well, too. Not sure why casual fans think they know more about team management and personnel more than the all the coaches. Newman’s double and three RBIs so far make the casual fans look so silly.
Steve, Matz is 0-6 with an ERA around 6 right now. Good day for the Reds at the plate. Newman will not be on the Reds next season and they are very unlikely going to get a decent prospect if they try to trade him at the deadline. Do you know he played for the Pirates last season and they didn’t want him?
Who plays first? Steer is playing well there, and there are other good candidates for third base.
Mario, yes I know we traded pitcher Dauri Moreta for Kevin Newman because the Pirates needed a middle reliever more than an infielder. Newman batted .274 for the Pirates and was a Gold Glove finalist in 2021.
Maile’s numbers do look better than expected. Leaves you wondering what value we get out of three catchers. Another reason Kyle Farmer was good to have around. I wonder if any of these phenoms have ever caught?(just kidding)
It’s may 24 and trade deadline is 60 + days away and also coincides roughly with DFA’s and moving on to 2024. Krall said the roster at the end of 2023 will look a lot different from end of 2022. Exit Votto, Moose, Farmer, Newman, Myers, Casali and maybe Senzel if he keeps playing well and elevating his trade value. Some infielder had to be moved to the OF on occasion with McLain, EDLC,Steer,India as infielders in MLB from June -September and looks like Senzel against lefties goes to LF. I like it. I also dont have a problem with Barrero in CF against lefties. Fast forward 2 months and put EDLC at 3b instead of Newman and CES at 1b/DH with Steer and Newman/Myers/Casali off the roster and I like it.
Friedl is any everyday player however.
It’s may 24 and trade deadline is 60 + days away and also coincides roughly with DFA’s and moving on to 2024. Krall said the roster at the end of 2023 will look a lot different from end of 2022. Exit Votto, Moose, Farmer, Newman, Myers, Casali and maybe Senzel if he keeps playing well and elevating his trade value. Some infielder had to be moved to the OF on occasion with McLain, EDLC,Steer,India as infielders in MLB from June -September and looks like Senzel against lefties goes to LF. I like it. I also dont have a problem with Barrero in CF against lefties. Fast forward 2 months and put EDLC at 3b instead of Newman and CES at 1b/DH with Steer and Newman/Myers/Casali off the roster and I like it.
Friedl is any everyday player however.
Steer off the roster?
Interesting article on the Athletic re: the Cubs who are in free fall. Hoyer takes blame for not giving Ross a bullpen and relying on 1 year guys year to year on cheap contracts who did well over the years but that plan is not working this year.
Ross “ thank goodness for the s…y play in our division”.
Whoa!! A lot of honesty packed in all that. Where are the tried and true baseball cliches?
What team does this sound like, sans the honesty of the front office and the field manager?