Cincinnati Reds option struggling starter Graham Ashcraft to AAA

A big demotion for one of their rotation stalwarts.

Graham Ashcraft rolled into Coors Field earlier this week and unfortunately did what so many pitchers do when they first arrive. He was bonked around for a trio of hits to begin the Bottom of the 1st, and by the time he walked off the mound at the end of the inning the Cincinnati Reds trailed 4-0.

Cincinnati rebounded in a late, big way to eventually claim a 12-7 victory (and the series sweep), but the start was yet another bummer in a string of bummers for Ashcraft. That left him having allowed at least 3 ER in 6 consecutive starts, a stretch of games that saw him yield 21 total ER in just 27.2 IP.

That has ballooned his season ERA to an unsightly 5.05, and his 1.46 WHIP and 4.74 FIP don’t suggest he’s been terribly unlucky so far. As a result, when the time came for the Reds to open a spot on their active roster for the return of reliever Emilio Pagan on Thursday, it was Ashcraft who was tasked with making way.

The Reds optioned their burly hurler to AAA Louisville, as they announced on the artist formerly known as Twitter.

Thing is, the Reds have the starting pitching depth to make this call right now. Nick Lodolo is back and dealing, Frankie Montas looks fully recovered from taking that liner to his forearm earlier in the year, Hunter Greene is breezing past hitters better than he has all year, and Andrew Abbott actually has a better ERA+ (123) than Greene (122). Add in that Nick Martinez is ready and waiting for as many starts as he can consume, and Cincinnati’s rotation, for now, seems stable.

The question now becomes whether Ashcraft, 26, can work his way back into that mix. Brandon Williamson is just about ready to come off his rehab stint and be a factor in the mix, while the AAA rotation Graham will join in Louisville features fellow talented, yet flawed hurlers like Lyon Richardson, Carson Spiers, and Connor Phillips, each of whom have struggled to find the broad side of the barn so far in 2024.

Ashcraft, despite often workhorse status as a groundball-inducer, has always kind of had the feel of a reliever to me. He leans on his cutter over 45% of the time, after all, and uses it twice as much as his four-seam fastball (to much more aplomb, too). If he stuck to being a two-pitch cutter/slider guy – and the velocity played up in short stints – he could very well be the kind of guy who I’d want closing out the highest of high-leverage situations going forward.

My best guess is the obvious guess for now, though, and that’s that the Reds will give him a chance to work things out in the Louisville rotation with all signs pointing towards him returning for big league work in said role when another injury inevitably opens the door for his return.