Cincinnati Reds: Cody Reed will start Thursday, fans should be excited

The Cincinnati Reds have switched up their starting rotation. Cody Reed will now get to start on Thursday and the fans should be excited.

The Cincinnati Reds shuffled their starting pitchers heading into the week. The six-man rotation is a thing of the past and Cody Reed is now part of the group that includes Luis Castillo, Homer Bailey, Anthony DeSclafani, and Matt Harvey. Reds fans should be rooting for Reed to play up to his potential.

Cody Reed was part of Johnny Cueto trade back in 2015. He, along with pitchers Brandon Finnegan and John Lamb, came to Cincinnati, while the Reds shipped Cueto to the eventual World Series champs, the Kansas City Royals.

With the Reds unlikely to sign Cueto to a long-term deal, the swap made sense. Cueto signed a 6-year deal with the San Francisco Giants in 2016. Cueto had a phenomenal first season in the Bay Area, but injuries have derailed his career of late. Cueto is currently on the DL after just recently having Tommy John surgery.

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Fast-forward to Thursday, and Reed will get his first start of the season for the Reds. Reds’ fans have every right to be skeptical. After all, Reed’s record as a starter is not good. In 10 starts back in 2016, Reed went 0-7 with a 7.36 ERA.

The following year, Reed lost his only start for the Reds and went only 2 innings, allowed 7 runs on 4 hits with 5 walks. Yikes! To be fair, Reed started that season in the bullpen, and after throwing 8 innings of relief work and allowing zero runs, Bryan Price threw Reed into a start on just 3 days rest.

Reed got one chance to start this year, going only 3 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits, including 2 home runs. Reed was then demoted to the bullpen and sent down to the Louisville Bats before the end of April. But come on Reds fans, don’t we all want to forget that first month of this season?

After being sent down to Triple-A Louisville, Reed started 17 of 18 games for the Bats. While his record of 4-8 doesn’t look great, his ERA 3.92 does. The Bats have been pretty abysmal on offense this season, so it’s no wonder that Reed’s win-loss record looks a bit lopsided. In Reed’s last four starts for the Bats, he went 2-0, allowing only 4 runs through 26 innings while striking out 36 batters.

Since being called up to the Majors, Reed has seen time as a reliever in 7 games. He’s pitched 9.2 innings, allowed only 1 home run, 9 hits and struck out 7. His ERA is sitting at 2.79 and he’s holding opposing hitters to a .250 batting average.

Reed hadn’t faced more pressure this season than he did over the weekend. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Reed replaced starter Matt Harvey with the bases loaded and Reds nemesis Anthony Rizzo coming to the plate.

Rizzo worked the count full, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Reed got Rizzo to ground into an inning-ending double play as Reed scooped up the ball, threw it home to Curt Casali for the force out at home and Casali winged the ball up the first base line in time to get Rizzo.

Reed will get the chance to prove that he belongs when he toes the rubber on Thursday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee is right in the thick of the Wild Card race so Thursday’s performance could mean a lot going forward.

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Robert Stephenson got an opportunity earlier this summer to show his stuff, and he’s now in the bullpen. Reds fans would love nothing more than for Reed to prove he’s got what it takes to pitch at the Major League. Having a left-handed starter in the rotation would be a huge get for the Reds. It’s now up to Reed to prove that he belongs.

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