Rhett

Lowder

Lowder scattered six hits on the afternoon while allowing one base on balls. All of the damage done against him came in the opening inning as Kerry Carpenter smacked a two-run double with the bases loaded. The 25-year-old righty settled in nicely afterwards though and kept the Tigers off the board for the rest of his day. Lowder got nine whiffs on 94 pitches on the day, posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. He’ll carry a 3.18 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 25/10 K/BB ratio (34 innings) into Saturday’s divisional showdown against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Tampa Bay had Lowder on the ropes in the opening frame when he walked in a run before somehow managing to wriggle out of the frame. He settled in afterwards, managing to allow just three baserunners over his final five innings of work to collect his third win of the season. He struck out three and only issued two walks. The -year-old former top pitching prospect hasn’t been overpowering, but he boasts a strong 3.10 ERA across 29 innings over five starts. He’ll close out a two-start week with a home matchup against the Tigers on Sunday.

It wasn’t a dominant outing by any stretch, but Lowder did enough to turn in a quality start and pick up a win on a night where Cincinnati’s offense slugged four homers and scored eight runs through four innings. He struck out four, issued one walk and gave up only five hits, including just one for extra bases. The 24-year-old former top pitching prospect boasts a serviceable 3.52 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 15/7 K/BB ratio over 23 innings this season. He’ll look to keep the momentum going when he squares off against the Rays in a favorable road matchup on Monday.

Things could have been different if a couple of Reds outfielders had been able to finish off plays, including Dane Myers outright dropping Xavier Edwards’ triple in the first inning, but Lowder was giving up plenty of loud contact. He allowed 10 hard-hit balls and got zero whiffs on his 15 sinkers that Marlins batters swung at. Lowder figures to take on the Giants in his next start, so he remains on the streaming radar despite his lack of strikeouts.

Lowder’s velocity tonight was 1-1.5 mph down from last weekend against the Red Sox, but he was able to get ahead in the count and generate mostly mediocre contact. We wouldn’t call it an encouraging outing — he didn’t have the cold weather excuse while pitching in a dome in Texas — but it was a successful one. He’s due to make a rare start on four days’ rest Thursday in Miami, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Lowder gave up just a two-run homer to Wilyer Abreu before exiting with the Reds trailing 2-0. He finished with five strikeouts and a 31 percent CSW, and he peaked at the end of the outing, throwing his hardest pitch of the afternoon (95.4 mph) while striking out Trevor Story to end the fifth. Lowder probably isn’t quite a mixed-league option at this point, but he figures to be pretty solid in the middle of the Cincinnati rotation. He’ll get the Rangers next weekend.

This always seemed like the most likely outcome after Lodolo didn’t seem to be brimming with optimism after playing catch on Tuesday at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The 28-year-old southpaw won’t require a lengthy absence at the outset of the regular season but he’ll need at least a handful of minor league rehab outings to build up his pitch count and stamina. Top pitching prospect Rhett Lowder, who will start on Sunday against the Red Sox to open the season, seems like the clearest beneficiary from Lodolo’s departure from Cincinnati’s rotation mix since he’ll have a much clearer path to consistent innings, which gives him some fantasy appeal as a streaming option in shallow mixed leagues.

Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson have also made Cincinnati’s rotation. There was speculation that Burns would open the season in the minors after experiencing some physical issues last week but Francona has put those concerns to bed. The 23-year-old top prospect is likely to have some workload limitations at the outset of the year as the Reds exercise caution with his ramp-up process, but he’ll remain in the big-league rotation. The plan is for the Reds to use a combination of Burns, Williamson and Lowder to fill two rotation spots. It’s an encouraging development for Burns, who has been going off the board as a top 25-30 range fantasy starter in drafts based on his stratospheric strikeout upside.

Lowder gave up four hits, walked four and committed two errors on pickoff throws, so it’s kind of impressive that he allowed just the two runs. Expectations are that the 24-year-old righty will have a spot in Cincinnati’s rotation with Hunter Greene sidelined. He should eventually prove to be a reliable third or fourth starter, but he might be a little too inconsistent to amass mixed-league value in his first full big-league season.

Greene said last week that he knew he had bone chips, and it turns out that he was correct. He also seems to be correct that there is no damage to his UCL, but we will know more on Wednesday when he goes to get his elbow scoped. Assuming there is no other issue apart from the loose bodies, Greene could return by the middle of June. We tend to gravitate towards the longer end of a recovery timeline, which means July feels like the best bet for when we could see Greene back on the mound for the Reds, if everything goes well in his recovery. That makes it nearly impossible to draft him in leagues without IL spots, but he can be stashed as a late-round pick if you have enough IL spots in your league. Rhett Lowder now looks like he’s going to get a chance to stick in the Reds’ rotation for a few months.