Reds forced into emergency roster move after devastating Graham Ashcraft news

The Cincinnati Reds just lost one of their best relievers to the injured list, and he'll be out for quite some time. Prior to Friday's series opener against the Atlanta Braves, the team announced that Graham Ashcraft was being placed on the 60-day injured list with a UCL sprain.

Cincinnati was forced to make a corresponding move and selected the contract of Yunior Marté from Triple-A Louisville. The 31-year-old has over 100 games of Major League experience on his résumé, but the overall numbers are not good. Marté is 2-2 with a 5.64 ERA over 113 innings in the big leagues.

Marté began his career with the San Francisco Giants in 2022, but last pitched in the majors back in 2024 for the Philadelphia Phillies. He made 23 relief appearances, but posted an unimpressive 6.92 ERA and 5.63 FIP to go along with an uninspiring 18.1% strikeout rate.

After his failed stint in the big leagues, Marté went overseas and found success with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. In 32⅓ innings, he posted a 1.95 ERA and 3.35 FIP. The Reds signed Marté to minor-league deal at the end of last year and invited him to spring training.

After being assigned to Triple-A Louisville to begin the year, he's made 20 relief appearances in Louisville and owns an impressive 27.4% strikeout rate. Walks have been a problem, however, as evidenced by his 12.5% walk rate. Marté has an impressive, high-octane repertoire, but the Reds now be without one of their high-leverage arms for at least the next two months.

Reds lose reliever Graham Ashcraft to the IL with severe injury

Ashcraft has been arguably the Reds' best relief pitcher all season. Through his first 26 outings of the year, the right-hander owned a 3.33 ERA and 32 strikeouts over 27 innings pitched. Ashcraft was manager Terry Francona's go-to arm in critical, late-inning situations, especially against left-handed hitters.

The Reds are now without their top options to close out games in the ninth inning. Without Ashcraft and fellow right-handed hurler Emilio Pagán, Francona will have to lean heavily on the likes of Tony Santillan, Brock Burke, and Pierce Johnson. Tejay Antone will likely receive some late-inning opportunities as well.

Ashcraft's timeline has yet to be revealed, but these types of injuries oftentimes require surgery or at least a lengthy layoff and rehab. This is one of those losses the Reds could ill-afford at this stage of the season, but they'll have to figure out how to weather the storm and move forward.

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