The Phillies traded minor league right-hander David Buchanan to the Reds for cash, tweets Matt Gelb of the Athletic. Cincinnati assigned the 35-year-old to Triple-A Louisville.
Buchanan is eligible to be traded after the deadline because he has not been on a 40-man roster all season. He signed a minor league contract with Philadelphia in February. Outside of a one-off start in High-A, he has pitched the entire season with Philadelphia’s top farm team in Lehigh Valley. He started 16 of 22 appearances with the IronPigs, working to a 4.82 ERA across 102 2/3 innings. His 17.5% strikeout percentage is subpar, but he has kept his walk rate to a solid 7.4% clip.
A former 7th-round pick, Buchanan pitched with Philadelphia at the major league level between 2014-15. He had a solid 3.75 ERA as a rookie before allowing nearly seven earned runs per nine in year two. After spending the ’16 campaign in Triple-A, Buchanan spent seven seasons in Asia. He played three seasons in Japan before a four-year run with the Samsung Lions in Korea.
Cincinnati’s rotation has been pummeled by injury. They’ve lost each of Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo to the injured list in the past few weeks, while Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson have been out of action for months. Buchanan provides a strike-throwing depth arm who has eaten a solid number of innings in Triple-A this season. The Reds’ series of injuries gives him a better chance to pitch his way to the majors for the first time in nearly a decade than he would have had in Philadelphia.