Brady Singer just changed the conversation around the Reds struggling rotation

Heading into the 2026 season, many believed that the Cincinnati Reds had one of the very best, if not the best, starting rotations in the majors. Even after Hunter Greene's injury, the Reds' starters were highly thought of. So far, the results haven't matched the reputation.

Cincinnati starters rank 25th in the majors with a 4.68 ERA. Rather than being a strength, they've mostly been a liability. Part of that has been due to injuries. In addition to Greene, the Reds have been without Nick Lodolo as well, as he recovers from a blister injury. That's put even more pressure on Brady Singer, who for the majority of his career has been a stabilizing presence even if he isn't a star.

Until recently, that hadn't been the case. Singer had gotten off to a rocky start, with his April 8 start, when he surrendered five earned runs over just 2⅔ innings against the Miami Marlins, marking a low point. After the game, Terry Francona noted that Singer struggled to put hitters away with two strikes.

Singer's latest outing on April 14 against the San Francisco Giants has inspired confidence that he's bouncing back, though. The performance was vintage Singer, as he got his sinker working and generated a 56.5% ground ball rate while allowing just one earned run over six innings.

Brady Singer's bounce-back start has Reds' rotation poised to rebound

Cincinnati's two best starters had been youngsters Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns, who have posted ERAs of 3.52 and 3.31, respectively. With Singer and burgeoning ace Andrew Abbott in the fold, that isn't the result that most would've had on their bingo cards.

However, things aren't as bleak as they have seemed. Abbott's 5.85 ERA isn't representative of how he's actually pitched, as he's excelled at generating weak contact and made a marked improvement in generating ground balls, owning a 51.4% grounder rate so far.

Singer's start hasn't been that bad if you exclude his appearance against the Marlins, and after turning in his best effort yet against the Giants, you can rest assured that his track record will win out. He, too, suffered from a blister issue towards the end of spring training, and though he recovered a lot faster than Lodolo, it's not unreasonable to believe that it still affected him in the early going.

Add in Lodolo's return, and you've got another top-of-the-rotation arm joining the fray. Things are starting to look up. Singer rebounding was huge, and when you pair the impending return of Lodolo with the stellar performance of the youngsters, and a smorgasbord of reasons to believe that Abbott's performance will return to where it's been the last couple of years, it's easy to feel good about the rotation again.

The Reds' rotation's stats haven't been pretty in the early going, but there's every reason to believe that they'll soon ascend to the lofty perch we all assumed they'd occupy in 2026. If anything, Singer's last start indicated that the ascension is already underway.

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