Cincinnati Reds: Predicting an expanded 30-man Opening Day roster

Starting pitchers (6)

Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo, Trevor Bauer, Anthony DeSclafani, Wade Miley and Tyler Mahle

The strength of the Reds will only get stronger with the addition of an extra player. With Noah Syndergaard undergoing Tommy John surgery, bragging rights for the best starting rotation in the National League will come down to the Washington Nationals and the Cincinnati Reds.

Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo, Trevor Bauer, Anthony DeSclafani and Wade Miley were already on track to be the Reds starters heading into the 2020 season. Tyler Mahle, who started 25 games for the Reds last season, appeared to be on the outside looking in. However, the delayed start to the season will likely put Mahle back into the rotation.

Some fans will bemoan the addition of Mahle to the rotation, as the right-hander went 3-12 with a 5.14 ERA in 2019. However, if you take a step back and dig deeper, you’ll see that Mahle pitched better in 2019 than he did in 2018. According to FanGraphs, Mahle’s strikeout-rate went up and his walk-rate went down.

The biggest blemish on Mahle’s stat line from 2019 was the number of long balls he surrendered. The 25-year-old saw 25 balls leave the yard and his HR/9 was 1.74. To be fair, Trevor Bauer’s HR/9 was 1.44 and he let 34 fly balls land in the seats. Reds ace Luis Castillo allowed 22 homers himself. The point is, as a sixth starter, Mahle will be more than up to the task.

Having Tyler Mahle as the Reds sixth starter will be an advantage that most clubs do not have. Mahle has experience beyond just the minor leagues and could really up his stock heading into 2021 when he’s likely to take over for either Anthony DeSclafani or Trevor Bauer, both of whom are free agents at the end of the 2020 season.