Photo: Malamut Photography
The Cincinnati Reds have announced four roster moves this afternoon. The first one is a move we learned about last night after the Reds walk-off win over the Detroit Tigers. Infielder Eugenio Suarez was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to yesterday, with a mild left oblique strain. The team also optioned right-handed reliever Kyle Nicolas to Triple-A Louisville. In turn, Cincinnati has called up outfielder JJ Bleday and right-handed pitcher Jose Franco from the minor leagues.
Last night in his postgame meeting with the media, manager Terry Francona made it seem like the oblique strain for Suarez wasn’t serious. Hopefully that is the case as losing a middle of the order bat usually isn’t a good thing for a team.
Kyle Nicolas pitched in the game last night. He walked the first two hitters he faced in the 5th inning but got out of that jam with a line out and a groundball double play. He returned for the 6th inning and gave up two singles sandwiched around a walk to load the bases before being removed from the game. Pierce Johnson escaped that situation without allowing a run. Control has been a huge issue for Nicolas this season with the Reds. He now has walked 13 batters in 7.1 innings, including eight batters in his last two outings that only cover 2.0 innings pitched.
Signed in the offseason, JJ Bleday didn’t make the club out of spring training despite hitting .317/.364/.683 out in Arizona with seven of his 13 hits being for extra bases. He went 0-4 on opening day for Louisville, but in the 23 games since then he’s gotten on base at least once. Bleday has hit .341 with seven doubles, a triple, six home runs, and 18 walks to go along with 23 strikeouts in 104 plate appearances. He’s ranked in the top 10 of the International League in average, on-base percentage, home runs, RBI, Hits, doubles, extra-base hits, and he leads the league in both slugging and OPS.
Jose Franco began the year with the Reds and pitched in three games over the first two weeks of the season out of the bullpen. He was then optioned to Louisville and he’s pitched in two games for the Bats – struggling in both of them. Franco last pitched on April 21st, so he should be available in a multi-inning role if needed moving forward for Cincinnati.