Nick Lodolo may be onto something that could change the way the Reds handle him down the stretch and beyond.
The left-hander, who has spent time on the injured list with a recurring blister issue, has been experimenting with a new grip on his breaking ball in an effort to keep the problem from coming back. On Friday, July 31, he took a meaningful step in that direction during a 50-pitch, three-inning simulation game, mixing in 10 to 12 pitches with the new grip.
That’s the kind of test the Reds have been waiting for. Lodolo has already missed three weeks during his second IL stint of the season because of the blister, after sitting out the first six weeks as well. In 12 starts, he is 3-2 with a 4.60 ERA.
“It feels good,” he said after the sim game. “Definitely something that I’m excited about.”
The breaking ball has long been a key piece of Lodolo’s success, working off his mid-90s four-seam and sinking fastballs. This version appears to give the pitch more slurve-like movement, and he said he used it only in the first of his three simulated innings.
“I actually threw a lot of them for strikes, so I was really happy about that,” he said. “But live BP is live BP vs. a game.
“It’s just getting comfortable with it and realizing how it’s supposed to come out of your hand,” he said, “because it’s definitely different than what you’re doing before.”
What comes next in the rehab process wasn’t immediately clear, but Lodolo said the blistered area is “in a good spot.” After getting through 50 pitches in his first sim game, a minor-league rehab assignment could be the next step in the coming days, with a return to the Reds’ rotation possible for the final six weeks or so.
Elsewhere on the injury front, outfielder Blake Dunn is set for major elbow surgery with Dr. Keith Meister in Texas on Monday (Aug.
3). Dunn has been out for the past month with what the team has described as a “sprain” suffered on a throw to the plate from center field, and he is not expected back this season.
Manager Terry Francona said the full scope of the operation won’t be known until Meister gets inside the elbow and determines whether reconstruction or an internal brace is needed.
There’s also movement with two other injured Reds pitchers. Left-hander Brandon Williamson, who has missed most of the last two seasons because of an elbow injury, was scheduled to begin a minor-league rehab assignment Aug. 1 with Double-A Chattanooga before moving on to Triple-A Louisville for the rest of the assignment.
Right-hander Graham Ashcraft, sidelined since the end of May with an elbow injury, is set to throw his first bullpen session since getting hurt in Arizona on Aug. 4.
If all goes well, he would then throw a second bullpen in Cincinnati during the club’s next homestand, Aug. 14-20.
Both Ashcraft and Williamson are on the 60-day IL.
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