Daniel Duarte should survive the Reds roster shakeup this offseason

The Cincinnati Reds will be making some intriguing roster decisions within the next two weeks and several players will be on the chopping block. The Reds will be adding several prospects to the 40-man roster and a number of players who were placed on the 60-day IL last season must be returned to the roster as well.

Young talents like shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Brandon Williamson will be added to the roster in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, and players like Tejay Antone and Lucas Sims will be removed from the 60-day IL and placed back on the 40-man roster.

One player whose status should be closely monitored in the coming days is right-handed pitcher Daniel Duarte. After being added to the 40-man roster last offseason, Duarte missed the majority of the 2022 season with an elbow injury. Hopefully the 25-year-old survives the roster shakeup and is given a chance to be part of next year's team.

Daniel Duarte should survive the Reds roster shakeup this offseason,

The Cincinnati Reds were high enough on Daniel Duarte to add him to the team's 40-man roster last fall. The right-hander, prior to last season, pitched just four innings above Double-A. But during his time in the minor leagues, Duarte showed a penchant for striking out opposing batters.

Duarte owned a 31.8% strikeout-rate in 2021 while playing across three different levels of competition. With 49 punch outs in 37.2 innings of work, Duarte proved that he has swing-and-miss stuff.

While Duarte's walk-rate (10.4%) was a little higher than most scouts would prefer, the right-hander balanced that out with a .204 bating average against and a 3.11 ERA and 3.15 FIP. Duarte's stuff will play at the major league level.

Unfortunately, Daniel Duarte did not have the opporunity to showcase his talents last season as the rookie hurler hit the IL shorly afetr arriving in The Show. After being named to the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day roster, Duarte was optioned to Triple-A in order to make room for fellow rookie pitcher Nick Lodolo and then made one more appearance in mid-April before landing on the IL.

With the Reds bullpen in shambles, the front office should give Duarte more time on the bump before making a decision on his future with the club. Duarte has two minor league options and five years of team control remaining. There's every reason in the world to believe that Daniel Duarte should survive the upcoming roster shakeup.