Cincinnati Reds announce Cody Reed will start on Saturday

Cincinnati Reds No. 3 prospect Cody Reed will make his big-league debut this weekend.

All three pitchers acquired in the Johnny Cueto trade will now be in the Reds’ starting rotation, as the team will promote Cody Reed to make his first career start on Saturday against the Houston Astros.

Ironically enough, all three of those starters received from the Kansas City Royals last July will start in the weekend series, with John Lamb pitching Friday, Reed on Saturday and Brandon Finnegan on Sunday.

Reed is regarded as the second-best pitching prospect in the Reds’ farm system by MLB Pipeline and is rated No. 66 in all of baseball. The 23-year-old is ranked even higher by Baseball America, who have him as the team’s No. 2 prospect and No. 34 overall prospect.

The left-handed hurler has seen his stock rise rapidly over the last year as he dominated High-A and Double-A pitching by posting a 2.41 ERA in 26 appearances (23 starts).

He started the 2016 in Triple-A after impressing during spring training and has put up solid numbers, going 6-3 with a 3.20 ERA and 3.37 FIP in 64 2/3 innings. He’s striking hitters at a healthy rate (23.8 percent) and is issuing walks at a career-low rate (6.4 percent).

As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper outlined,, Reed throws a mid-90s fastball paired with a devastating slider and an average changeup. Cooper also says Reed has “one of the highest ceilings of any starting pitcher who will be promoted this season.”

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According to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s C. Trent Rosecrans, Reed will make more than just a spot start in the rotation like top pitching prospect Robert Stephenson has done twice this season. In other words, he should be with the Reds for the foreseeable future, not back in the minors.

He likely would’ve been in the majors sooner, but has been kept down until this point due to service time and Super Two concerns, which will mean he isn’t eligible arbitration and free agency a year early. This, along with the fact that the Reds are in a rebuilding year, meant there was no reason to rush him to the big leagues.

Reed will be the 26th pitcher used by the Reds this season and the 12th starter. He won’t be the last, either. Stephenson will likely join the Cincinnati rotation at some point in the near future and Michael Lorenzen should make his season debut sometime next week out of the bullpen.