Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
So this is why the Cincinnati Reds were so comfortable with pulling the plug on Aroldis Chapman‘s much-publicized reliever-to-starter conversion.
Even with Johnny Cueto on the disabled list, Dusty Baker and company weren’t overly concerned at how it would affect the team. The reason? Tony Cingrani, the rookie strikeout artist who has done nothing but overwhelm big league hitters since his arrival as a backup plan.
Of course, to say that his first two opponents were teams with ‘big league’ hitters may be a bit of a misnomer. Rookie or not, five innings of one-run ball against the Miami Marlins isn’t exactly shocking, even if it came with eight strikeouts. So, he improved those numbers in his next start, throwing seven innings on two-run ball with nine strikeouts — not bad … if it didn’t come against the Chicago Cubs.
Still don’t believe in the top-100 prospect?
Maybe you should, because the big bad Washington Nationals sure do after Sunday’s domination at the hands of the lefty.
Facing one of the most talent-stacked teams in the big league did little to faze Cingrani; if anything, it simply made him better. Holding the Nats to just two hits and a walk through six innings would have been an impressive feat for even the best starting pitcher in the majors, but the 23-year-old did it in style, setting down a whopping eleven batters via strikeout en route to taking his second victory of the season.
These weren’t your lucky, expanded-strikeout variety Ks too, as seven of them were generated via the swinging whiff variety.
Just ask Ian Desmond, who owned a pair of them. That said, things didn’t go much better when the Nats weren’t swinging at the Reds’ rookie (37.3 percent, lowest of his three starts by a wide margin) either, as Adam Laroche and his pair of caught-looking Ks can tell you.
It might has well have been a coming out party for Cingrani, who threw fewer strikes than in any of this other starts (46.4 percent) but threw them when he needed, while avoiding the long ball for the first time in his three major league outings thus far.
So now that he’s shown that he can conquer the top dogs, what’s next for the Reds’ prospect, especially down the line if/when Cueto is ready to return?
It’s still a little early to say, but let’s just put it this way — Mike Leake had better watch his back.
