Before tonight’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals began, the Cincinnati Reds made a few roster changes. Alex Young, a left-handed reliever, has been taken off the 60-day injured list. After Brett Kennedy was designated for assignment, he was added to both the 40-man roster and the 26-man active roster. Kennedy is a right-hand pitcher.
This season, Alex Young has not made a major league pitch. Since spring training, the left-handed reliever has been suffering with a back condition that has caused him to be sidelined: low back disc degeneration. Cincinnati assigned him to the Triple-A Louisville Bats to begin a rehab assignment in May. He would appear in 11 games overall over the previous four
In 3.1 innings pitched across his first three starts, he struck out six batters and allowed only one hit. In his remaining 7.2 innings, he gave up just three hits, three walks, and struck out three batters. Young’s defense allowed opponents to bat just.114 during that span, and they only managed one extra-base hit—a double—leaving them with a.143 slugging percentage after 42 plate appearances.
Young made 63 appearances in the Reds’ pen in 2023. He recorded a 3.86 ERA in 53.2 innings pitched, with 20 walks and 50 strikeouts. His splits were intriguing as lefties didn’t hit for average and right-handed hitters had a batting average that was over 50 points lower than lefties’.
For Brett Kennedy, who spent the previous week in the major leagues but was never able to pitch in a game. The 29-year-old’s season in 2024 has not been easy. He has a 6.86 ERA and a 1-5 record in 40.2 innings this season with Triple-A Louisville. Having given up 11 home runs this season, the biggest blow to him has been the home runs.
Kennedy is now going to be vulnerable to releases. The whole point of him being the guy called up last week was that he was nearly certain to clear them. The team was aware that they would soon need to make a 40-man roster change. Because there are only so many possibilities for pitchers on the roster, they felt that they needed to bring up a guy who they were confident would not be lost to another team when that player was designated for assignment. Sometimes it’s a dumb, filthy business.
Kennedy has been outrighted before in his career, so if he clears waivers and is outrighted, he can choose to become a free agent.
