The Cincinnati Reds must have known I was having service done at my house this afternoon because they decided to announced three roster moves almost to the minute that I had to walk away from the computer. Earlier this afternoon the team called up right handed pitchers Keury Mella and Deck McGuire. To create room on the 40-man roster for McGurie the team designated pitcher Barrett Astin for assignment.
Keury Mella spent his entire season at the Double-A level with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The 23-year-old posted a 4.30 ERA in 134.0 innings where he had 43 walks and 109 strikeouts. His season was a bit up-and-down. In April he had just six walks and 20 strikeouts in 24.2 innings pitched. But over the next two months he had 22 walks and 31 strikeouts in 43.1 innings as he hit a bit of a rut. Over his final 12 starts of the year, beginning in July he had just 15 walks and 58 strikeouts in 66.0 innings as he finished out the season quite strong.
Deck McGuire, like Mella, spent the entire season in Double-A with Pensacola. The 28-year-old dominated for the entirety of the season, posting a 2.79 ERA in 168.0 innings. The right hander allowed just 125 hits and 57 walks to go along with 170 strikeouts. That doesn’t include his 13-strikeout, no walk, 8.0 inning shutout playoff game that ended his minor league season.
It’s been an up-and-down career for Deck McGuire. Drafted 11th overall in the 2010 draft, he got out to a nice start in 2011, posting a 3.02 ERA between Advanced-A and Double-A, but only 20.2 of those innings came at the Double-A level. For the next two seasons he struggled to figure out the level before doing so at age 25. That year he had a 2.98 ERA in 60.1 innings for New Hampshire before moving up to Triple-A in the second half. He struggled there the rest of the season. In 2015, now with the Dodgers, he found success in both Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.69 ERA in 136.2 innings but didn’t receive a call up in September. In 2016 he regressed while with the Cardinals, posting a 5.10 ERA in 134.0 innings for their Triple-A team.
When it comes to the service time and options situation for the two players, neither has ever been in the Major Leagues until today. Deck McGuire was originally added to the 40-man roster by the Blue Jays following the 2013 season and optioned the following spring. He was DFA’d mid-season and claimed by the Athletics. They outrighted him to Triple-A later that year. He’s never been back to the 40-man, meaning he has two options remaining. This season was the first on the 40-man roster for Keury Mella and he was optioned in spring training. Like McGuire, he will have two options remaining after this season.
For Barrett Astin, it was a very tough season. He pitched in six games with the Reds, posting a 6.75 ERA with seven walks and two strikeouts. In Triple-A he had an ERA of 6.10 in 48.2 innings with 22 walks and 44 strikeouts. He missed six weeks of the season from late June until early August.
The team also activated outfielder Jesse Winker from the disabled list.