Cincinnati Reds: Ranking the best pitchers for late-game situations

1. Give me Raisel Iglesias with the game on the line.

Call me crazy, but with the game on the line, I want Raisel Iglesias on the mound. The Cincinnati Reds closer have proven time and time again that he is the team’s best pitcher when the game hangs in the balance. Well, let me correct myself a bit; so long as the Reds have a lead, I want Raisel Iglesias on the mound.

Iglesias has rebounded after a horrendous 2019 campaign that saw the Reds closer lose 12 games, a club-record for a relief pitcher. David Bell said before the 2019 season that he was going to use Iggy when he needed his best reliever, not just during a save situation. That philosophy didn’t agree with Iglesias, but Bell has already done the same in 2020 with mixed results.

In two save chances this season, Iglesias is 2-for-2. That’ll work. However, that’s not the only occasions we’ve seen Raisel Iglesias this season. Iglesias’ first appearance of the 2020 season saw Iggy replace Amir Garrett in the top of the ninth inning of a 4-4 game versos the Detroit Tigers. Jacoby Jones took Iglesias deep and the Reds lost the game 6-4.

However, Iglesias has racked up two strikeouts in every relief appearance thus far and has yet to allow a single run during the month of August. If this trend continues, there’s no doubt who David Bell will turn to with the game on the line.

While the Cincinnati Reds bullpen is not what fans want to see, it is what it is for the moment. Unless Dick Williams and Nick Krall want to make a trade before the August 31st deadline, the current crop of relievers will likely be who Bell runs out there night after night. The only thing that would change that is if Nick Lodolo or Hunter Greene received a call-up to the big leagues.