Nick Lodolo's injury could flip into massive Reds win if this trend repeats itself

A blister on Nick Lodolo's left index finger kept him off the Cincinnati Reds' Opening Day roster, but the good news is that he shouldn't be out of action for long. He's already scheduled to throw a bullpen session, after which he'll head out for a rehab start if there are no setbacks.

There's reason for caution, however, as Lodolo has missed time due to blister injuries in both 2024 and 2025. Neither instance held him out for an extended period of action, but this is clearly a recurring issue that needs to be dealt with properly.

Assuming Lodolo responds well to his throwing sessions and makes his return to the active roster in the coming week, he'll have a perfect model to follow — Andrew Abbott. The Reds' Opening Day starter missed the start of the 2025 season with a lingering shoulder injury before turning in his first career All-Star campaign. A similar evolution from Lodolo would be a very welcome development.

Reds starter Nick Lodolo could follow in Andrew Abbott's footsteps

It's worth delineating Lodolo's current situation from Abbot's last year; the latter didn't land on the injury list due to a "new" ailment, instead he missed the start of the season after delaying his start to camp. Lodolo may have a history with blisters, but he didn't get an entire offseason to recover from this one.

That being said, his recovery timeline matches up well with 2025 Abbott, who missed the first three weeks of the season. He remained healthy the rest of the way after returning on April 12, handling 29 starts and 166⅓ innings while crashing the Midsummer Classic.

If Lodolo's rehab start goes well, he could return to the team next week, with a season debut set for some point during the Reds' four-game series against the Miami Marlins. That would be a little less than two weeks on the shelf, which could put him in line to make 30 or so starts if he remains healthy the rest of the way.

That's a big "if" for someone with such a lengthy injury history. But the 28-year-old southpaw managed a career-high workload in 2025. The performance aspect of this equation is far less complicated; Lodolo was incredible down the stretch last year, recording a 3.24 ERA and 3.26 FIP during the second-half last season.

Abbott set a pretty high bar, but if any Reds pitcher can come back from injury and clear that standard, it's Lodolo.