Reds-Bats Pipeline Exceeds Double Digits in 2021 With Freeman

CINCINNATI – Infielder Mike Freeman was scratched from Louisville’s lineup just prior to the scheduled first pitch on Tuesday and booked it to Cincinnati to join up with the Reds at Great American Ballpark. The 33 year old arrived under the gun and delivered an RBI single off Aaron Nola in the bottom of the fifth inning in his Cincinnati Reds debut.

Freeman pushes the pipeline of players who have contributed to both Cincy and Louisville in 2021 to 11 players through just a month of the Triple-A regular season. The list includes RHP Brad Brach, RHP Jose De Leon, RHP Carson Fulmer, Freeman, RHP Ashton Goudeau, RHP Vladimir Gutierrez, OF Scott Heineman, OF Mark Payton, LHP Cionel Perez, INF Max Schrock and RHP Art Warren.

The 11 players, along with their solid contributions in Louisville, have combined for 94 appearances for Cincinnati in a variety of different roles. The seven pitchers who have played at each of the two levels have taken the ball 57 times for the Reds, including three starts, and worked 77.1 innings. Offensively, the four batters have also made 37 appearances and combined for five runs scored, six extra-base hits and five RBI.

Much like Freeman, several of the former Bats players arrived in dramatic fashion. Heineman homered in just his second appearance with Cincy (off Brett Anderson), Payton singled and scored as a pinch hitter in his second game and Schrock was a single short of the cycle during his most recent game with the Reds before exiting with an injury.

On the mound, Gutierrez worked 5.0 innings with one run on the road against a tough Chicago Cubs lineup, while relievers Goudeau and Warren have yet to be scored upon in their stint in the big leagues this year.

Overall, excluding the players mentioned above, there are 50 former Louisville Bats players to see time on a Major League roster this season. And of those 50, 12 players suited up with the parent club in Cincinnati.