Jon Moscot was on his way to staking his claim to a spot in the Cincinnati Reds‘ rotation. He was staked to a 5-0 second-inning lead against the Washington Nationals and cruised through three hitless innings.
Then Moscot turned back into the batting practice pitcher who was shelled for four homers and seven earned runs in two innings against the Colorado Rockies in his last start that was a historically bad start for the Reds.
The Nationals blew up Moscot for five earned runs in the fourth inning. The 24-year-old right-hander didn’t survive the inning.
With Anthony DeSclafani slated to return this week to the Reds’ rotation, the Reds have the option of removing a current starter from their rotation. Moscot, Alfredo Simon and John Lamb were the likely candidates to draw the short straw, but after Moscot was bombed again, the choice is much easier.
To make matters worse for Moscot, he choked against the Nationals and former Reds’ manager Dusty Baker. The Reds’ front office would’ve liked nothing more than to have seen the decision to fire Baker even remotely validated by sweeping the Nationals in Baker’s first return to Cincinnati Reds.
As it were, the Reds won the series 2-1 but lost the series finale thanks to another dud by Moscot.
The most likely fate for Moscot now is demotion to Triple-A. The Reds could opt to move him to the bullpen and ship out Daniel Wright instead. But the likelier scenario is that the Reds will want to keep Moscot working as a starter.
Moscot was one of the candidates out of spring training to win a rotation spot for the Reds. He was delayed out of spring by injury then suffered another setback once he was promoted to the Reds. He has surrendered 10 homers in 21.1 innings this year with the Reds.
At that rate, Moscot will be lucky if he isn’t waived outright.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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