The Reds announced that they had chosen to hold the right-hander Jake Wong Saleh recalled Eduardo Salazar From Triple A Louisville. In the corresponding moves, right Levi Stoudt He was optioned to Louisville while fit Randy Wayne He is set to forfeit.
Wong, 26, was drafted by the Giants and spent his entire career there prior to this season. In December, the Reds acquired a catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol From Pirates in the Rule 5 draft and flip it to The Giants for cash or a player to be named later. About a week later, the Reds announced that Wong would be the PTBNL of that Sabol deal.
The right-hander was relegated to the lower tiers of the Giants’ system in 2018 and 2019 but has since missed two full seasons. The minor leagues were canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, and Wong then spent all of 2021 on the injured list. Last year, he threw 97 2/3 innings at High-A over 25 games, including 17 starts, with a 4.52 ERA. His 10.3% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.3% of opponents and had 53.3% ground balls.
This year, the Reds have essentially relegated Wong to relief work full-time, with his only starts being 2nd and 3rd innings pitched. Overall, he threw 34 1/3 innings over 17 appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A, but struggled in his first taste of the upper levels of the farm. He has a 7.60 ERA this year between those two stops, striking out 22.6% of opponents but walking 13%.
Despite poor results so far this year, the Reds called him up as they needed new weapons. In their three games against Atlanta over the weekend, they allowed 24 runs and none of their starters lasted more than four innings, leaving the relief teams to absorb 16 2/3 frames during that series. They now have a three-game series in Baltimore before their next day and called on Wong and Salazar to help them move on.
In order to get that arm on the roster, the Reds took Wynne off the roster. He himself was added as a new arm just yesterday and made his league debut. He threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits, walking and getting one run without recording a strikeout. Despite this respectable performance in his first big league game, he was quickly bounced back due to the club’s overworked outfield team.
The Reds will now have a week to trade Wynne or pass him via waivers. Before being called up, he threw 31 2/3 innings in Triple-A this year with a 5.12 ERA, 12.9% strikeout rate, 5% walk rate, and 31.8% ground ball average.
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