The Cincinnati Reds will look to turn things around after dropping the first series of the season to the San Francisco Giants. They’ll host the Texas Rangers for a 3-game series beginning tonight after the Rangers went 3-1 to open the series against the Boston Red Sox. First pitch this evening is set for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Texas Rangers |
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Marcus Semien – 2B | TJ Friedl – CF |
| Corey Seager – SS | Matt McLain – 2B |
| Wyatt Langford – LF | Elly De La Cruz – SS |
| Joc Pederson – DH | Gavin Lux – LF |
| Adolis Garcia – RF | Jeimer Candelario – 3B |
| Jake Burger – 1B | Christian Encarnacion-Strand – 1B |
| Josh Smith – 3B | Spencer Steer – DH |
| Jonah Heim – C | Jake Fraley – RF |
| Leody Taveras – CF | Jose Trevino – C |
| Kumar Rocker – RHP | Brady Singer – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
Stats are from 2024.
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB% | K% |
| Brady Singer | 179.2 | 3.71 | 1.28 | 7.1% | 22.3% |
| Kumar Rocker | 11.2 | 3.86 | 1.54 | 10.9% | 25.5% |
| Links: Brady Singer’s Stats | Kumar Rocker’s Stats |
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Brady Singer
Things were different for Singer last season as he pitched for the Royals. Kansas City’s ballpark is not like Cincinnati’s. That said, he did pitch better at home in 2024 where his ERA was 0.86 lower than hitters had an OPS 109 points lower than when he pitched on the road.
His splits were very big when it came to facing right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters. Righties couldn’t do much of anything against him. They didn’t hit for average, they rarely walked, and they had next to no power. Left-handed hitters, though, were strong across the board against him. They walked more than twice as often, hit for a high average, and they showed off a good amount of power.
Of note here – Brady Singer added a cutter in 2025 during the spring. He never threw one before this season. We will see how often he uses it during the regular season, but in the pitch usage chart below the numbers are from 2025 spring training, not his 2024 season.
2024 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 343 | 67 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 4.4% | 23.0% | .208 | .252 | .311 |
| LHH | 419 | 108 | 26 | 1 | 15 | 9.3% | 21.7% | .291 | .367 | .488 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 91.5 | 91.8 | 88.2 | 81.4 | 87.1 |
| Usage | 10% | 47% | 13% | 28% | 2% |
Kumar Rocker
There’s not much big league experience for Kumar Rocker. Last year he pitched in three games for Texas, throwing just 11.2 innings. He didn’t pitch many innings in the minor leagues, either, throwing just 36.2 innings – but he dominated when on the mound after completing his rehab. In 29.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A he allowed three runs, 13 hits, walked four batters, and had 47 strikeouts.
This spring saw him struggle. It’s just spring training and everyone treats it differently. Still, he posted an ERA of 9.00 and allowed 18 hits, hit three batters, walked nine, and had 20 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched. Given that he’s thrown just 76.1 innings over the last two seasons at five different levels, his splits aren’t going to tell us much useful information.
Pitch Usage
| 4-sm | 2-sm | Cutter | Curve | Change | |
| Velo | 96.9 | 96.4 | 90.1 | 81.1 | 89.3 |
| Usage | 35% | 20% | 3% | 38% | 5% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
- Watch: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 45°, cloudy, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
Stuart Fairchild traded to Atlanta
Cincinnati made a trade this afternoon, sending Stuart Fairchild to Atlanta for cash considerations. Fairchild failed to make the team out of spring training and was designated for assignment. We wrote about the deal with a few more details about Fairchild here.
Four Reds prospects on Fangraphs Top 100 list
Earlier today Fangraphs released their top 100 prospect list. Four of Cincinnati’s prospects were on the list, and one was just outside of the top 100. We wrote about all of that here if you missed it.
Luis Mey and just how rare his velocity is
Over at RedsMinorLeagues.com this morning I wrote about Luis Mey, his sinker, and just how rare it is that he throws it as fast as he does. What he did over the weekend in his Triple-A debut already sets him apart from nearly every pitcher in the last two decades.
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