The Reds optionized the old closer all-star Alexis Diaz In Triple-A Louisville, according to a team announcement. Right -handed compatriot Luis Mey is recalled from Louisville in his place. Mey will make his debut in MLB the first time he takes the mound.
It was a brutal season for Diaz, who has already lost the role of the closest in Cincinnati. The 28-year-old right-hander opened the year on the 15-day injured list due to a tension in the hamstrings. He returned a few weeks ago but launched an average quick speed of 93 MPH in career. He currently has more walks (five) and authorized circuits (four) than stick withdrawals (three). The result is an era of 12:00, which was strongly inflated by the collapse of five points yesterday against the cardinals.
Diaz’s decline was not completely safe from blue. It was an excellent high-effect arm during its first two seasons from 2022-2023, finishing fifth in 22 22 rookie of the year to vote and to make the star team of 23 in the middle of a 37-test season. His 2024 campaign, however, was plagued by red flags.
Last year of 3.99 ERA was not necessarily a warning sign for a significant drop in itself, but the average radiator of Diaz increased from 95.2 MPH in 2022-23 to 93.9 MPH in 2024. Its withdrawal rate, which had exceeded 30% in each of its first two seasons, fell to a pedestrian of 22.7%. Its swing rotation rate recorded only 11% last year after being seated at 15.6% seeing in the previous two seasons. Diaz has never had a good command, walking more than 12% of his opponents, even at his peak, which makes the decline precipitated by his ability to miss all the more problematic.
Diaz has not changed his selection of pitch during his career – he is always a pure lift of four seams / cursor – but the shape, speed and quality of his locations have all taken the wrong direction. Beyond the drop in rapid ball speed, his cursor actually has acquired Just under one mile per hour. This was once a gap of almost 9 mph between its radiator and its cursor is 5.7 MPH at the moment. He also saw that the cursor loses a significant quantity of his horizontal rupture; In 2022, Statcast measured the vertical and horizontal rupture of the Diaz cursor to be much above average. They are both more than two inches of worse than the average now, and the odor rate in the field has increased from 45% in 22 to 13% so far in 2000.
The Reds could have not stretched Diaz during the winter, but they kept it and accepted a salary of $ 4.5 million for the current season. Depending on the duration of this optional assignment, demotion could push the right to the right -hander to the one year free agency. He entered the season with exactly three years of service MLB, and if he spends more than two weeks in Louisville, he will not accumulate a full year this season. This would reject his free agency of the 2027-28 offseason to the 2028-29 offseason.
Of course, this will only be at stake if Diaz is able to restore part of its previous form. If he continues to fight anywhere near this level, he will be an unkindle candidate in November or perhaps even a candidate of the DFA between now and the end of the season. For the moment, he will try to get back on the right track in Triple-A.
By turning to Mey, 23, he will add a flame arm to the enclosure of the Lights of Terry Francona – but the one whose command problems are not so different from those of Diaz. Mey has an average of 99.1 colossal mi / h on his lead in power this year, but he has traveled at least 15.6% of his opponents in each of his four years of full season ball among minors. He removed free passes from a macabre clip of 17.6% in 55 rounds between High-A and Double-A last year, and he traveled 16.7% of his opponents in nine triple-A frames in 2025.
The overabundance of the walks was not necessarily offset by significant withdrawal rates. Mey was average or better in this regard throughout his career, but has never really climbed in the range more. Its withdrawal rate has oscillated between 23% and 28% year by year, settling at a collective rate of 25.9% dating from 2021. Likewise, its lead produced solid prices but not quite ground balls when it has climbed on the scale of the minor league. He succeeded at 52% in 2024 and has a field rate of 54.2% so far in 2025.
The pure power of the lead of Mey, associated with a cursor which is more drawn to the notes more on the screening relationships, gives Mey the foundation of a potentially dominant lift. He will have to considerably improve his command in order to reach this ceiling, but he is an intriguing arm for the Reds to take a look at their new more downed. Mey will probably slip into situations with a low lever effect to start his career in the big league.
