The churn-and-burn of pitchers by the Cincinnati Reds continued this afternoon. The club announced that they had called up right-handed pitcher David Buchanan and designated left-handed pitcher Evan Kravetz for assignment in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster for him. They also announced that Casey Kelly, who was a part of a churn-and-burn of pitchers earlier this week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. It was not stated whether he accepted that outright.
Cincinnati acquired David Buchanan earlier this week in a trade with Philadelphia. The Phillies will be getting cash considerations for their end of the deal. Buchanan had been pitching in the minor leagues for Philadelphia, making 22 appearances (16 starts) with Triple-A Lehigh Valley and one start for High-A Jersey Shore. The 35-year-old hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since making 35 starts for the Phillipes between the 2013 and 2014 seasons. From 2017-2023 he pitched in Japan and Korea before returning to the US this year.
This season in the minor leagues he posted a 4.51 ERA in his 109.2 innings pitched while allowing 123 hits and 13 home runs. Buchanan didn’t walk many hitters, handing out just 33 free passes. He also didn’t strike out many hitters as he racked up just 82 strikeouts against the 470 hitters he faced – that’s a 17.4% strikeout rate.
The last start for David Buchanan was on August 25th, so he should be fully ready to handle multiple innings if and when the Reds put him on the mound. That may be today as Cincinnati looks like it will be having another “bullpen day” with Fernando Cruz as the scheduled starting pitcher.
Evan Kravetz will be available to any team on waivers. The big lefty made his Major League Baseball debut on Wednesday when he threw 0.2 innings while getting two groundouts. The 27-year-old was a 5th round pick out of Rice back in 2019 and had worked his way up through the Reds farm system – spending all of 2024 in Triple-A with Louisville where he had a 3.40 ERA in 42.1 innings before his call up.
