Cincinnati Reds to promote LHP Andrew Abbott, who’ll start tomorrow

The top pitching prospect in the Reds system will make his MLB debut.

The Cincinnati Reds have been short on starting arms for a while now. Nick Lodolo was moved to the 60-day IL just yesterday, Luis Cessa was jettisoned last month, Chase Anderson was dealt away for cash, and Graham Ashcraft has been bonked around worse than just about any starter in the game over the last month.

Down at AAA Louisville, however, lefty Andrew Abbott had continued to dominate after his absolutely brilliant start to the year with AA Chattanooga. That beginning featured striking out 36 hitters in just 15.2 IP - with just 2 ER allowed in that time - though there was a question whether the higher seams on the balls at that level had been purely behind his success. Since his promotion to Louisville - and to the usual old balls - he’s been nearly as lights-out, pitching to a 3.05 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across 38.1 IP (7 GS), with another 54 K on his ledger there.

That was enough to make him the next man up in the Reds rotation, which was made a formality on Sunday morning when they added him to their taxi squad.

Said formality was later revealed to The Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith, who relayed that Abbott will start tomorrow’s game against the Brewers.

Goldsmith was getting quotes from manager David Bell, who indicated both that Abbott’s stint with the rotation was far from just a spot start while also relaying that Hunter Greene will have his start pushed back a day while dealing with ‘hip stiffness.’

It’s an encouraging sign to see the Reds turn to Abbott, who has more than proved he’s ready for a shot at the highest level. It just certainly increases the spotlight on the team’s decision to avoid promoting their other top prospects for now, too, since it certainly seems to be incongruous in their approach.

Congrats to Andrew!