24-year old lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman has always had an incredible fastball, but until this year he was a tad wild and it got him into trouble at times. This year though, he is pounding the strike zone with his impressive arsenal of stuff and batters have been overmatched by him. Chapman has pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Reds so far this year and he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.40 WHIP. He has only given up 2 hits without walking any batters, while whiffing 10 in his first 5 innings of 2012. As long as Chapman keeps pounding the strike zone, he is going to be very hard for opposing teams to deal with.

The Reds have shut down 25-year old righty starting pitcher Johnny Cueto for the rest of the year due to a strained lat muscle. Cueto was awesome this year for the Reds! He pitched in 24 games (all starts) for the Reds this year and he was 9-5 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Cueto only gave up 123 hits in 156 innings this year as he was downright nasty. Cueto has now pitched in 116 games (all starts) for the Reds in his first four years with the team and he is 41-37 with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. It looks like the best is yet to come from Cueto for the Reds.

23-year old lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman has been so-so for the Reds so far this year. He has pitched in 49 games (0 starts) for the Reds so far this year and he is 4-1 with 1 save, a 4.09 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Chapman has only given up 22 hits while whiffing 65 batters in his first 44 innings in 2011, and that is impressive. But, Chapman has also walked 37 batters in 2011 and that is way too many. Chapman has now pitched in 64 games (0 starts) in his first two years with the Reds and he is 6-3 with 1 save, a 3.61 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. If Chapman has harness his control, he will be a truly dominating pitcher as either a starter or reliever for the Reds in the near future.

Everything has finally come all together for 28-year old lefty reliever Bill Bray in 2011. He has pitched in 74 games (0 starts) for the Reds so far this year and he is 5-2 with 18 holds, a 2.82 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. Bray has only given up 32 hits while whiffing 38 batters in his first 44 2/3 innings this year, as he has been downright nasty. The Reds are glad to see Bray having so much success, as they think they can fully count on him now for the future.

23-year old righty starting pitcher Mike Leake started out this season in the Dog House due to an arrest for shoplifting. They even sent him to the minors for the first time in his career. Leake has rebounded from all of that to pitch well for the Reds this year. Leake has pitched in 25 games (22 starts) for the Reds so far this year and he is 10-8 with a 4.09 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He has given up 137 hits in his first 138 2/3 innings but 19 of them have been homers, which isn’t good. He has limited the damage by striking out 103 batters while only walking 34 batters so far this year. Despite spending some time in the minors this year, Leake is leading the Reds in wins.