Reds top prospect makes latest case for promotion after dominant outing

The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff has been terrific this season. Hunter Greene has established himself as a bona fide ace in his third major league season. Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo have both eclipsed 110 strikeouts on the season and established new career-marks in innings pitched.

Throw in Carson Spiers, Nick Martinez, and the hopeful return of Brandon Williamson, and Cincinnati has a formidable starting rotation. But they say you can never have enough pitching, and that's been proven time and time again.

Reds prospect Rhett Lowder is ready for the next step

With that in mind, it's time for the Reds to bump Rhett Lowder to the next level. Cincinnati's top draft choice from a year ago put together yet another stellar outing at Double-A Chattanooga after throwing his first complete game (though it was only a seven-inning doubleheader) and Lowder is due to face some tougher competition.

The question is whether or not the Reds will allow Lowder to skip Triple-A altogether or promote the right-hander to the Louisville Bats' roster. Either way, it's time for Lowder to leave southeastern Tennessee in the dust.

The Reds already promoted Lowder once this season. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon started just five games at High-A Dayton before receiving a push to join the Chattanooga Lookouts at Double-A back in mid-May.

Through his first 10 starts at Double-A, Lowder had his fair share of struggles. The 22-year-old went 1-4 with a 6.85 ERA while allowing the opposition to hit .324 with an .876 OPS-against. But since July 9th, Lowder is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. Opposing batters are only able to hit .172 off the righty with measly .478 OPS. That's flat-out getting it done.

Pushing Lowder to the big leagues isn't the worst idea in the world, but it's also not necessary. Unless the Reds endure an injury-filled September like they did in 2023, it seems like the best course of action would be to allow Lowder to get in a handful of starts in Triple-A.

Lowder is only sitting on 102 innings pitched this year after logging 120 at Wake Forest in 2023. It stands to reason that Lowder could finish out the year without reaching his innings limit, but he shouldn't end his year in Chattanooga. The former first-round pick is ready for the next step.

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