Rhett Lowder exited his start early on Thursday, escorted off the mound by a trainer after walking back to back batters to start back to back innings. Reports at the time indicated that he’d felt ‘clicking’ in his right shoulder, though the good news came on Friday when his MRI results came back clean.
Still, the Cincinnati Reds are just 41 games into their 162 game season, and Lowder is fresh off a completely lost 2025 season due to forearm and oblique issues. The Reds, obviously, are going to be incredibly cautious with their rookie, and that’s why he’s set for a stint on the 15-day injured list to give that clicky shoulder a bit of a break.
Charlie Goldsmith relayed the news from manager Terry Francona, who noted that Lowder was going to ‘continue to throw’ while sidelined.
Did we honestly think Lowder, who threw just 139.1 IP across all levels in 2024 before his lost 2025, was just magically going to jump back into 32 starts and 175 innings for the Reds this season? Of course not.
This obviously isn’t a scheduled break, but it would be foolish to believe that the Reds weren’t going to find a way to limit Lowder’s innings at some point in the season to keep him ready to complete the season down the road. This hiccup wasn’t ideal, but it’s the kind of break that they baked into how they hoped to manage his 2026 season and is precisely why the team was reluctant to deal from their starting depth this winter.
That depth, by the way, is now currently down Hunter Greene, Brandon Williamson, and Lowder.
It would have made sense to get Chase Petty back in the rotation after the way he pitched in his season debut earlier in the week in Chicago, but he’s starting for the Louisville Bats this afternoon against Nashville. My best guess is that Petty will be recalled at some point during Lowder’s absence, but that obviously won’t be for his first scheduled turn through the rotation. That may mean that Jose Franco – who hasn’t pitched at any level since May 7th – will get recalled to help start and/or participate in a bullpen game for Lowder’s first turn through the rotation this upcoming week.