The Cincinnati Reds could be getting back right-handed pitcher Rhett Lowder soon. He has not pitched in three weeks, exiting his May 7th start against the Cubs in the 4th inning and then landing on the injured list.
The first six starts of the season went quite well for Lowder and the Reds. Cincinnati went 4-2 in his six starts before April ended. As for Lowder, he threw 34.0 innings in those six games and allowed just one home run, walked 10, struck out 25, and had an ERA of 3.18.
When May rolled around things went sideways quickly. On May 2nd he took on the Pittsburgh Pirates and they just didn’t have any control that day and walked four batters and allowed five hits and eight runs in just 1.1 innings. Five days later the control wasn’t there again as he walked four more batters against the Chicago Cubs and gave up three runs in 3.0 innings before injuring himself facing the third hitter of the 4th inning (he walked the first two).
The injury was shoulder discomfort in official terms. Lowder got an MRI and that came back clean with no structural damage, but he was dealing with “clicking” in his shoulder and got a cortisone shot in there to attempt to take care of that issue.
He never stopped throwing after he went on the injured list, things were just calmed down a bit. He pitched a simulated game on Wednesday, as reported by Mark Sheldon of Reds.com, and manager Terry Francona noted in his pregame interview with the media before the Mets game that the plan was to get Lowder out on a rehab start on Tuesday.
While teams tend to prefer that their rehabbing players play at home ballparks, next week that is not at all an option as the full-season teams are on the road. That likely means that Lowder will join the Triple-A Louisville Bats as they take on Memphis.
With Lowder out, Brandon Williamson out, and Hunter Greene out, the Reds had to figure out how to round out their rotation. Rather than go to the minor leagues and have Chase Petty come up to fill in for Lowder they opted to sign Chris Paddack after he was released by Miami. In his two starts for Cincinnati sign signing he’s allowed five runs in 10.0 innings (4.50 ERA). If Lowder gets through his rehab assignment without issue the club is going to have to make a decision on Paddack, who can’t be sent to the minor leagues.