Martin County West graduate Brandon Williamson took the pitching loss Friday night for the Louisville Bats as they lost to the Indianapolis Indians 6-1 in an International League game before a crowd of 8,991 at Victory Field in Indianapolis. The Bats are the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds while the Indians are affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Williamson pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out seven. He threw 87 pitches, 54 for strikes. His top pitch was 95 miles per hour.
It was his sixth start for Louisville. He has a 1-3 record with a 4.1 earned run average.
In 26.1 innings the left-hander has allowed 14 runs (12 earned) on 32 hits, walked 15 and striking out 24.
There is growing speculation that Williamson will join the parent club in Cincinnati yet this season, possibly as early as next week.
The Reds traded two starting pitchers early this week as they sent Mahle to the Twins and Luis Castillo to the Padres. Then on Friday, Hunter Greene was placed on the 15-day injured list.
With Williamson eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter, the Reds will need to add him to the 40-man roster anyway.
The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers in December The rule aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor league affiliate teams when other organizations would be willing to have them play in the major leagues.
The Rule 5 draft happened every year from 1920 until 2021 when the MLB lockout led to the postponement of the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft, but the minor league phase proceeded as scheduled.
Both the Triple-A Bats and parent-club Reds will be in Iowa at the end of next week.
Louisville is in Indianapolis through Sunday, has Monday off and will be in Des Moines for six games vs. the Iowa Cubs Tuesday-Sunday.
Cincinnati is at Milwaukee through Sunday, plays three in New York vs. the Mets Monday-Wednesday, and then faces the Cubs in the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa on Thursday. After a day off on Friday the Reds play the Cubs at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati next Saturday and Sunday.