Cincinnati Reds’ pitchers find more success up and down the minor leagues

The Cincinnati Reds are short on talent in Triple-A, but the lower minors are stocked with talented arms.

With all of the injuries on the Cincinnati Reds’ main roster it is difficult to judge the talent at Louisville.  The Bats have seen pitchers from across their staff called up to cover the holes in the Reds’ rotation.  They have gotten Rookie Davis and Cody Reed sent down, but neither is fully stretched out yet.

In Louisville only Jackson Stephens has enough innings pitched to qualify for the ERA rankings.  He is fourth from the worst among the qualifiers in the International League.  Sadly, of those pitchers scheduled to pitch in the rotation the next go around, only Davis and Reed have ERAs lower than Stephens’ number.

The situation in Double-A Pensacola is much better, however.  Four of the starting pitchers for the Blue Wahoos are in the best 11 of ERA in the Southern League.  Only the “other guy” in the Mike Leake deal, Keury Mella, is in the rotation and ranked worse.

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It’s better than that.  Those same four pitchers – Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Deck McGuire, and Austin Ross – are also all in the top 16 among strikeouts in the Southern League. All four are also among the best 14 in WHIP for Southern League qualifiers.

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The talent in the lower reaches of the Cincinnati Reds’ organization are even better than that, if you can believe it.

In High-A at Daytona Beach all of the starting pitchers have ERAs under 5.00.  The one with the highest ERA is Vladimir Gutierrez who came over from Cuba with shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez.  Gutierrez has 58 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings.

The most impressive season is coming from Jesus Reyes.  He has a 3.40 ERA and a WHIP of 1.19 over 53 innings.  Through nine starts he is averaging nearly six innings per start and is 6-1.

The Dayton Dragons are even better than that.  All five of their starting pitchers have ERAs under 4.50.  They also have WHIPs under 1.20.  Those are elite numbers for an entire rotation at any level of baseball.

The most recognizable name in the rotation is probably Tony Santillan.  He was a second round pick in the 2015 draft.  He leads the starters in ERA, strikeouts and wins with 7.

Next: Lisalverto Bonilla is what is wrong with the Reds' rotation

This is why the Reds have been asking the fans to hold on just a little bit longer.  Amir Garrett and Austin Brice are the first surge of a system that should provide the Reds with pitchers for the next few seasons.  In the meantime the team needs to evaluate those pitchers that are already in Cincinnati.