The Cincinnati Reds made a roster acquisition this afternoon, picking up right-handed reliever Roansy Contreras from the Texas Rangers. Contreras was picked up on waivers by the Rangers on October 31st from the Los Angeles Angels, but the Rangers put him back on waivers this past week and now he’s been picked up by the Reds.
It’s been a long road for Roansy Contreras to get to Cincinnati. He originally signed as a 16-year-old with the New York Yankees in July of 2016. He remained in the Yankees organization until January of 2021 when he was one of five players involved in the trade that sent Jameson Taillon from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Yankees.
Later in 2021 Contreras would make his big league debut, pitching for the Pirates in one game during the final week of the season. The following season he made 18 starts and three relief appearances with Pittsburgh and posted a 3.79 ERA in 95.0 innings as a 22-year-old. Things went south for him in 2023, though, as he split time between the rotation and bullpen while posting a 6.59 ERA in 68.1 innings as both his home run rate and walk rate went up and his strikeout rate dropped.
Last season he began the year with the Pirates and pitched in 12 games out of their bullpen, but in May his contract was sold to the Angels where he pitched in another 34 games out of the bullpen – but he also made three starts. Between his two stops in 2024 he posted a 4.35 ERA while throwing 68.1 innings to go along with 31 walks – though six (!!) were intentional – and 56 strikeouts.
In the past, Contreras had been a fly ball pitcher, with a ground ball rate that was 37% entering the 2024 season for his career. But in 2024 his ground ball rate rose to 44.4%, which is better than the league average of 42%. His strikeout rate remained low, though, and his walk rate wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t poor. The problem is that when you couple his walk rate with his low strikeout rate, that can be a problem.
His ground ball rate likely went up because starting in July he began to throw a 2-seam fastball that he hadn’t really shown much in games before that during his career. After adding the 2-seamer his ground ball rate jumped from 40% to 45%. He also added a cutter in the final two months of the season.
As a reliever, Contreras is a bit of a unicorn in that he ended 2024 throwing six different pitches. He’s throwing a 4-seamer, a 2-seamer, a cutter, a curveball, a slider, and a change up. As a former starting pitcher you may expect him to have more than your typical two offerings that many relievers do, but a 6-pitch reliever sticks out like a sore thumb.
Roansy Contreras is out of options, so the team will not be able to option him to the minor leagues. He is also under team control through the 2028 season and is not yet arbitration eligible, so he will be making the league minimum in 2025.
You can see the career stats for Roansy Contreras here.
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