Photo: Redleg Nation Staff
Left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo is heading to the 15-day injured list, first reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The left-handed pitcher exited his start on March 22nd in Arizona in the 1st inning after just 10 pitches thanks to a blister developing on his index finger. The team waited until his threw on Tuesday to see where things stood and after he did they decided to put him on the injured list and give it more time to heal.
The earliest that Lodolo will be able to return from the injured list is April 7th. That is the 11th game of the season. That would mean that the left-handed starter would miss two starts if he can return on that timeline. Last season saw Lodolo miss 21 days in August due to a blister on the same finger.
With him out the Reds will move everyone in the rotation up a spot and put another left-handed pitcher, Brandon Williamson, into the rotation. Williamson was going to begin the year working in a piggyback type system with both Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder where he would just follow one of them up as a reliever to try and finish out the rest of the game or something real close to it each time through the rotation. Now he’ll simply slide into the number five spot in the rotation and hold it down until Lodolo is ready to return.
Rhett Lowder will move into the third spot in the rotation and take on the Boston Red Sox in the series finale on Sunday with Chase Burns starting the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday and then Williamson going out there on Tuesday in the second game of the series.
This does open up a spot in the bullpen. As of right now who will fill that role is unknown. Kyle Nicolas, Zach Maxwell, and Luis Mey are relievers that are on the 40-man roster who were optioned earlier in spring training. If the Reds want a little more length in the bullpen in the short term they could look at options like Chase Petty, Jose Franco, or Julian Aguiar. Those three are starting pitchers on the 40-man who were optioned to Triple-A.