Ahead of their series at Great American Ball Park against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Cincinnati Reds announced several roster changes. Right-handed reliever has been recalled from Triple-A Louisville to temporarily replace top star, who is going on paternity leave.
Veteran star spent all of May with the Reds at the major league level. Over the first three weeks of that stint, he was highly effective, giving up just four hits and two runs in 10 innings, while walking five and striking out 13. However, he struggled in the final week, surrendering two home runs, four total runs, two walks, and managing only one strikeout across three innings. That rough stretch led to his demotion back to Triple-A.
He was briefly recalled again on June 19, when he pitched 1.1 innings against Minnesota, allowing a run and issuing three walks.
Since rejoining Louisville in early June, Mey has posted a 2.20 ERA. In that time, he’s thrown 16.1 innings, allowed nine hits, no home runs, walked eight batters, and struck out 18 — a 28% strikeout rate against the 64 batters he’s faced.
The key issue for Mey continues to be consistency, particularly with his control. While his overall walk numbers during this stretch are reasonable, three of those walks came in a single outing where he only recorded one out. When he’s locating well, he can be dominant, but on nights when his command falters, both he and the team tend to suffer the consequences.