Cincinnati Reds Cody Reed: Deep Waiver Wire Add

By Brad Kelly | Jun 21, 2016

Feb 24, 2016; Goodyear, AZ, USA; Cincinnati Reds pitcher Cody Reed poses for a portrait during media day at the Reds training facility at Goodyear Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Cody Reed is the top rated pitching prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system, and made his major league debut on June 18th. After a solid first outing, should fantasy owners give him a look off the waiver wire?

Not much has gone right for the Cincinnati Reds this season, but they been able to offer a few players that are quality fantasy contributors. Cody Reed has been billed their top prospect, and after his encouraging debut, he warrants fantasy intrigue.

Cody Reed was a second round pick by the Kansas City Royals in 2013, and came over to the Reds in the Johnny Cueto deal last season. Reed had a rocky start to his minor league career, as he battled his command and lack of secondary pitches, but he has turned a corner developmentally the last two seasons.

His debut against the Astros offered a glimpse of just how electric Reed’s stuff can be. He lasted seven innings, surrendered four runs, struck out nine and walked three. Each of his earned runs all came as a result of two, two run homers against a power laden Houston lineup, but he was also able to showcase his power stuff as well.

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Reed’s arsenal has often been discussed since he was drafted, as he had a 95 mph fastball, but not much else. After struggling mightily his first two seasons in the minors, he finally developed a nasty slider, which has catapulted him into top prospect status.

After developing his slider to play off his mid-90s fastball, he was able to keep hitters off balanced and prevented them from sitting purely dead red. In 2015, he was able to put it all together and went on to post a, 2.41 ERA/144 K/1.16 WHIP/42 BB, line over 145 innings between single A and AA ball.

The Reds have struggled to find any semblance of consistent pitching both in the bullpen and the rotation, so Reed will surely stick in the majors as long as he keeps showing progress. Cincinnati is a bad team, and will surely continue to struggle, but he has the stuff to be a solid fantasy SP 4 or 5 moving forward.

Great American Ballpark is certainly problematic for pitchers, but in the minors, Reed has a minuscule career 0.5 HR9 rate. Reed has a 3.20 ERA in AAA this season, with 63 K over 11 starts, showing that he is currently on a two year roll, and it seems as though he can carry that momentum into the majors.

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He faces the Padres for his next start, a team that has scuffled offensively, so fantasy owners can surely add him for at least a start. The move would serve as a pure upside play, so why not take the gamble?

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