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We've already had one Cincinnati Reds pitcher move from speculative streamer to trendy waiver add, and from the looks of Amir Garrett's first start, we might already have a second.
Thanks to an injury-battered spring for the Reds' rotation, the former basketball prospect for the St. John's (NY) Red Storm has climbed the depth chart despite having no more than 140 innings above high-A under his belt. The organization's faith in the 24-year-old was at least temporarily rewarded when Garrett silenced the St. Louis Cardinals with six scoreless frames in his MLB debut on Friday.
Garrett will look to prove that his debut was no fluke on Wednesday when the Reds visit the Pittsburgh Pirates. That Pirates team, despite its star pedigree and up-and-coming talent, has been a league-average offense since last season, with a team-wide soft contact percentage that ranks as fifth-worst across the majors.
The Reds' lefty struggled with command throughout the minors, and while his throwing 50 of his 78 pitches for strikes against the Cards was certainly encouraging, his ratio of 30 strikes to 17 balls on his four-seam fastball should stop us from getting overly excited about what is still clearly a raw arsenal. Garrett will certainly need to spot his fastball better against a very patient Pirates squad to have success.
But if Garrett can wield his heater with confidence and continue to show poise that he displayed against the Cards, he might be an outright hold in deep leagues soon enough.