Tejay

Antone

Pagán wrapped up a minor league rehab assignment over the weekend and will regain his role as Cincinnati’s closer. The 35-year-old veteran stopper has been out since early May working his way back from a hamstring strain. He should be rostered in all fantasy leagues based on his track record and minimal in-house competition with the Reds.

The Reds could certainly use Pagán back to shore up the back-end of their bullpen with Tony Santillan hitting the injured list with an oblique strain prior to Friday’s series opener against the Pirates. The 35-year-old veteran stopper’s return to Cincinnati’s relief corps feels imminent and he should be rostered in any fantasy leagues where he somehow ended up on the waiver wire after suffering a hamstring strain back in early May.

It’s been a rough season for Santillan, who has a 5.23 ERA in 31 innings for the Reds. He had been pitching slightly better in June and had taken over the role as the primary closer with three saves in the month. It’s hard to say who may take the ninth-inning duties now because the Reds’ bullpen has been so poor, but Tejay Antone has the next highest game leverage index in June, and he also has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings across 11 appearances this month, so maybe he’s worth the gamble.

Sam Moll then gave up two runs in the eighth to take a blown save and a loss. Tony Santillan is still the favorite for saves in Cincinnati right now, but Antone has been the team’s most impressive reliever with his 3.75 ERA, 12/4 K/BB and 58 percent groundball rate in 12 innings. The Reds have to closely monitor his workload after three Tommy John surgeries, but he should be in the mix for at least the occasional save until Emilio Pagán returns.

Up 6-1 in the eighth inning, we weren’t really expecting to have a save chance to write about for the Reds today. But Graham Ashcraft went Graham Splat, loading the bases with walks and allowing an RBI single without recording an out before Brock Burke walked in two more in relief of him. Having already used Pierce Johnson and Tony Santillan, the Reds turned to Antone, who allowed a triple to Kyle Manzardo but got three other batters out between that. Does this mean the Reds have a new closer? No, it means this game was weird. But Antone has good stuff and certainly could factor into what has become a full-blown committee in Emilio Pagán’s absence.

Antone, who has undergone three Tommy John surgeries in his career, deserves a ton of credit just for making it back to the majors at all given everything he’s been through. The 32-year-old reliever last pitched in the big leagues for the Reds back in 2024. He’ll operate in middle relief for Cincinnati’s injury-depleted bullpen.

The 32-year-old right-hander struggled during Cactus League play, registering a 7.94 ERA, 1.94 WHIP and a 7/4 K/BB ratio across 5 2/3 innings. He’ll attempt to get himself right at Triple-A Louisville before getting an opportunity to contribute to the Reds’ bullpen.

A little under a week after electing free agency, Antone is back with the organization he’s been with since 2014. The 31-year-old was once among the better relief prospects in baseball and looked like he was on his way to becoming a closer, but injuries have derailed his career with only nine MLB appearances since 2021. He’ll get a chance to win a spot in the Reds’ bullpen this spring.

There’s an alternate reality where Antone stays healthy and blossoms into one of the premier high-leverage arms in the game. Unfortunately, the 31-year-old’s promising career has been derailed by an avalanche of elbow issues since undergoing Tommy John surgery back in 2021. Simply put, his fastball velocity hasn’t rebounded following multiple elbow procedures. There’s likely to be an organization out there willing to kick the tires in spring training as a low-risk dice roll after he became a minor league free agent earlier this week.

Antone has given up 15 runs over 11 1/3 innings at three levels since returning to the mound. He averaged 94.7 mph with his fastball last night. That’s down two mph from 2021, when he had a 2.14 ERA in 33 2/3 innings out of the Reds pen, but it’s considerably better than the 93.1 mph he averaged before requiring surgery last year.