The Cincinnati Reds made four roster moves this afternoon prior to the start of the series against the Seattle Mariners. Right-handed pitchers Casey Legumina and Michael Mariot have been called up from Triple-A Louisville. Right-handed pitchers Lyon Richardson and Brett Kennedy have both been optioned back to Triple-A Louisville.
After yesterday’s game that saw Brett Kennedy have to enter the game in relief, it left the Reds without a starting pitcher available for the first game of the Mariners series. The club is going to be going with a bullpen day as Tejay Antone is set to start as the team’s opener. With Kennedy pitching on Sunday and Richardson not available to pitch today they both head back to re-join the Louisville Bats in the minor leagues.
Cincinnati is adding some fresh arms in Casey Legumina and Michael Mariot. Legumina has been relieving all year when healthy, but Mariot has been starting in the minor leagues this season for Louisville.
This is the second time this year that the Reds have called Michael Mariot up to the big leagues. The team brought him up on July 8th, but he didn’t pitch that day. The next day he was designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and accepted his outright to the minor leagues. Now he’s back in Cincinnati. Mariot has not pitched in a game in the big leagues since October 2nd of 2016 when he recorded one out for the Philadelphia Phillies. He began the year pitching in the independent American Association for Cleburne. He made five starts for them before signing a minor league deal with the Reds in June.
In his nine games – eight of which have been starts – he’s posted a 6.93 ERA for the Bats. Mariot’s given up 44 hits with nine home runs, walked 14 batters, and he’s struck out 24 in his 37.2 innings pitched.
Casey Legumina made his big league debut earlier this season with the Reds. He’s pitched in 10 games with Cincinnati, walking eight batters with 11 strikeouts and a 6.17 ERA in 11.2 innings. In Triple-A this season he’s thrown 23.1 innings with 25 strikeouts and seven walks, posting a 5.01 ERA in the process.
Since returning from the injured list in June (he also missed most of July with another injury), Lecumina hasn’t thrown more than 1.2 innings. Mariot, though, could potentially cover multiple innings if needed to.
To note that Lyon Richardson was not optioned back to Triple-A, but he was “returned” to Triple-A. That designation is important. Richardson was called up as a “replacement” player for someone going on the COVID-19 injury list. Because of that, no option is used for this sort of transaction and he is able to return to the big leagues without having to wait 15 days like a pitcher who was optioned would (unless returning to replace an injured player). Richardson had been listed as the probable starting pitcher for Wednesday, though the game notes now list TBD – though that may be a formal thing since he is not on the roster.