Cincinnati Reds must decide whether Cody Reed is a starter or reliever

The Cincinnati Reds are wasting precious developmental time for Cody Reed, if they view him as a starter.

While Cody Reed has been a multiple inning for the Cincinnati Reds, Jackson Stephens and Sal Romano have each started four games for the Louisville Bats.  That doesn’t sound like a bunch, but that was just the first month of the season.  Reed, meanwhile, started one game and looked awful.  The Reds could just be bringing Reed along slowly.

Both Romano and Stephens are on the Reds’ forty man roster.  Romano even started one game for the Reds in April, making his MLB debut to cover for the injured Rookie Davis.  That means they could be up in Cincinnati instead of Reed, as well.

That means one of two things.  Either the Reds think so highly of Reed that they feel he needs to be with the big league team or Romano and Stephens have passed him up on the organizational chart.  Either way, it looks more like he is becoming a reliever everyday.

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While Romano has gotten in four starts covering 22 innings in Louisville, Reed has only pitched 12 innings over six games.  Romano also pitched three innings in his MLB debut start on Easter Sunday.  That means that Reed is pitching less innings and getting less starts under his belt.

The Cincinnati Reds need to have better planning for their pitchers as they approach the majors.

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The Reds are known for two thing regarding their pitching prospects.  They don’t let the pitchers pitch enough innings in the minors and they don’t designate them strongly enough as relievers or starters.  Most organizations select pitchers as starters or relievers, not pitchers.

While Romano is averaging almost six innings per start in Louisville, Stephens is averaging under five.  Stephens is also having control issues, allowing one walk every two innings.  The question is why do so many Reds’ prospects suddenly have control issues at Triple-A.

Reed is another beast entirely, though.  The Reds, and the Kansas City Royals before them, have developed Reed as a starter the entire time he has been in professional baseball.  He averaged six innings per start in the minors.

There is no logical explanation for Reed’s issues as a starting pitching.  His velocity isn’t going down.  He just suddenly can’t find the plate when he starts games.

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Whatever is going in the Reds’ developmental system, the team must make a decision on Reed.  He was the piece that we viewed as the cornerstone of the Johnny Cueto deal.  Right now, Reed is in the bullpen and Brandon Finnegan is on the DL, so the deal isn’t looking great, yet.