Cincinnati Rookie Nick Lodolo Shines in Reds' Loss to Rockies Sunday

The Cincinnati Reds may be having a season to forget, but the club is fostering a promising young batch of players that their fans should surely remember.

The Reds were one of the teams that were hurt the most from the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Reds' general manager Nick Krall had been building towards 2020, acquiring stars Trevor Bauer, Nicholas Castellanos and Mike Moustakas to pair with a talented nucleus of homegrown players featuring Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, Luis Castillo, Raisel Iglesias and Tyler Mahle, in hopes of getting his club over the hump.

In a shortened 60-game season, the Reds finished 31-29, earning the club its first postseason appearance since 2012.

The Reds were quickly bounced from the playoffs in the experimental National League Wild Card Series, falling to the Braves 1-0 and 5-0 in a short, best-of-three series in Atlanta.

The Reds were never able to get into a rhythm in the short season, and after losing 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer to free agency, failed to reach the playoffs in 2021, finishing 83-79.

Having lost Castellanos to free agency and with All-Star Jesse Winker entering a contract year, the Reds were at a crossroads entering 2022. Though it didn't sit well with fans at the time, general manager Nick Krall decided to punt on the 2022 season, in hopes of building a model that could sustain success in Cincinnati.

Battling injuries and trying to find a new identity, the Reds lost 22 of their first 25 games. Months later, they would trade away pitchers Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, as well as 29-year-old breakout star Brandon Drury, at the trade deadline.

The Reds have been panned by national media members for 'tanking', but those that have been watching closely can see that the club is stashing away a surplus of potential young stars that has the potential to be the foundation for the next great Reds' team.

Sunday, all eyes were on rookie starting pitcher Nick Lodolo, in game one of the Reds' doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies.

In the 14th start of his young career, Lodolo fanned nine batters, giving up just two hits and one walk across six scoreless innings at home, at the Great American Ballpark.

With the performance, Lodolo lowered his ERA from 4.30 to 3.95.

Lodolo ran into early trouble over his first six starts, logging a 5.81 ERA, 1.80 WHIP and 38 strikeouts over 26.1 innings, earlier this year.

In his eight starts since, however, Lodolo has been exceptional. The former no. 7 overall pick of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft has a 2.92 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 53 strikeouts over his last eight starts, clocking 46.2 innings in that time.

On August 17, Lodolo turned in his best performance yet, shutting down a potent Philadelphia Phillies' lineup over seven scoreless innings at the Great American Ballpark.

Lodolo once again shined on Sunday. He was pulled after six innings and 101 pitches by manager David Bell. The Reds' bullpen quickly melted down, allowing eight runs in three innings, spoiling what may have been Lodolo's finest outing yet.

Lodolo seems to be in the process of finding the secret to succeeding at the Great American Ballpark, a hitter's park that most pitcher's struggle at.

Finding pitchers that can excel at the Great American Ballpark will be critical to the Reds' success moving forward.

In 2022, the Reds' home park is tied with the Rockies' Coors Field in park factor, a Statcast metric that measures the impact a a ballpark has on hitters and pitchers. According to this metric, the Great American Ballpark ranks as the second-most 'hitter's park' in Major League Baseball.

Though it may be early, the 6-foot-6, left-handed, former TCU Horned Frog appears to be one of the foundational pieces that could help the Reds return to prominence in the National League.

With five top-100 prospects, two weeks ago MLB.com ranked the Reds' farm system as the fourth-best in baseball.

On a recent episode of the Jack Vita Show, MLB Network analyst and former Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd was complimentary of the work Reds' GM Nick Krall is doing.

"I like what Nick and the group have done there," O'Dowd said. "I think Lodolo is turning into an impact-starter. I think (Hunter) Greene has a chance to be that. He really still needs to learn the art of pitching, but I think he'll learn that.

"To me, their young catcher (Tyler Stephenson) — who's gotten hurt — is one of the best in the game. Foundationally, they've got three young shortstops coming in down the road. I do like what the Reds are doing, and I do think in that division, where you've got some teetering-and-tottering, they've got a chance to be really good, and I don't think they're that far away from being good."