Raisel Iglesias is close to returning to the Cincinnati Reds. Shoulder strength issues sidelined the 25-year-old Cuban after his last start on April 25.
Iglesias tossed five scoreless innings with five strikeouts in his Double-A rehab this past week. The Reds will initially relegate Iglesias to bullpen duty. That could change as the season unwinds.
Iglesias was expected to be a starter with the potential to be the Reds’ next Johnny Cueto. The shoulder strength issues have derailed that plan for now.
Iglesias will help the Reds’ pitching staff regardless of his role, but he is still in the running for the rotation at some point this year and future years.
Iglesias threw a combined 124.1 innings last year and would’ve likely pitched no more than 170 innings this year due to innings limitations.The Reds can still afford to be patient with Iglesias in his conversion from Cuban middle reliever to big league starter.
Iglesias may not move into the rotation until the Reds decide it is time to shut Brandon Finnegan down. Finnegan pitched a total of 105.1 innings last year. The Reds probably won’t let him throw more than 150 this year. Finnegan has already thrown 87.1 innings so far this year in the Reds’ rotation.
Barring unforeseen changes, Iglesias will pitch out of the bullpen until the All-Star break. After that, he should be ready for another crack at the rotation.
The Reds could ultimately decide to keep Iglesias in the back-end of their bullpen with Tony Cingrani and Michael Lorenzen. Much of that decision depends on the development of Cody Reed, Robert Stephenson and Amir Garrett as front-end rotation starters.
Even with the latter trio meeting expectations, a healthy Iglesias is hard to keep out of the rotation. His stuff is just too electric. His varied delivery makes it even harder for hitters to succeed against him.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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