Cincinnati Reds recall IF/OF Brian O’Grady, RHP Keury Mella

Brian O’Grady probably has each and every exit on I-71 memorized by now. The versatile dinger-masher has been back and forth from Louisville to Cincinnati several times in the last few weeks already, but on Tuesday he was again called up by the Cincinnati Reds - this time, in theory, for the remainder of the season.

The team announced the move on twitter this afternoon, and in addition to O’Grady they’ve brought up righty Keury Mella, too.

Rosters expand in September, you’ll remember, meaning the Reds are doing nothing but adding to their depth at this point. That said, with the recent back flare-up from Alex Wood and the busted hand Eugenio Suarez suffered after being hit by a pitch, it’s depth that might well see the field more often than not.

Mella, in particular, is an interesting case. His 5.05 ERA in 142.2 IP for AAA Louisville this year in 27 starts was nothing fancy, nor were his 1.51 WHIP or 1.82 K/BB. That said, it’s long been thought that he might well end up breaking into the bigs in a more significant manner as a reliever, and that will certainly be the role with which he’ll be tasked over these final ~25 games in 2019. Considering he’ll be out of options after this year, that gives him one big shot to show he can get outs from the bullpen before the Reds get to make some serious decisions about where he fits into their future.