Alex Young and Lucas Sims stepping up in an underrated Reds’ bullpen

Cincinnati Reds relievers Lucas Sims and Alex Young both got the same result on Wednesday, picking up clutch strikeouts against Texas Rangers All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien. But their paths to get there couldn’t have been more different. 

During the Reds’ 5-3 win on a walk-off home run by center fielder Nick Senzel, the Reds’ bullpen delivered another impressive performance. After the Reds got off to a slow start this season because of inconsistency in the bullpen ahead of closer Alexis Díaz, that unit has become one of the most consistent pieces on the Reds’ roster.

Despite the bullpen’s slow start to the season, as of Wednesday afternoon, the Reds’ bullpen has the ninth-lowest ERA in MLB at 3.40. 

The group includes two pitchers who have emerged as high-leverage relievers who Reds manager David Bell trusts with the game on the line. There’s Young, the non-roster invitee who has bounced around different teams because he was never an overpowering pitcher. And there’s Sims, who has some of the best stuff in baseball but hadn’t been healthy since 2021. 

It’s been a meaningful season so far for both of them.

“It feels good to be back out there and contributing to a big team win,” Sims said.

“I’m a chip on my shoulder guy,” Young said. “People doubted me. I always go back to that underdog mentality. It fuels me.”

Bell decided before the season that he was going to save Díaz for the ninth inning. Aside from Díaz, the Reds didn’t enter the season with a single known commodity in the bullpen. It took a few games for the Reds to figure out the best way to structure this year’s bullpen.

Sims, who only pitched in six games last season because of a back injury and wasn’t ready for the start of the season, made his season debut on April 19. Bell wanted to ease Sims back into high-leverage situations, but he viewed Sims as someone who has the potential to be one of the best relievers in MLB.

But because of injuries, Sims wasn’t able to be that pitcher for nearly a year and a half.

“Coming back can be a little emotional,” Reds reliever Derek Law said. “It’s cool seeing Lucas go out there and do that. It’s nice to get back on the horse and, from his perspective, see David have the confidence in him in that big situation. We feed off of that.” 

When the Reds were contenders in 2020 and 2021, Sims had a bunch of memorable moments where he inherited runners on base and turned the game with some key strikeouts. His overpowering fastball and two different breaking balls with incredible movement give him the potential to be an elite strikeout thrower.

During Wednesday's win, Sims inherited two runners on base in the top of the ninth inning. Díaz had pitched in two consecutive games and wasn’t available, so Sims got his most high-leverage opportunity of the season. He allowed one run to score on a game-tying sacrifice fly. Then he struck out Semien with a high fastball and fanned center fielder Leody Taveras with the same pitch.

Sims looks even better than he did in 2021 with more consistent technique, more control on the mound and pitches that have some of the best movement in baseball.

“Maybe I’ll look back on this and see (an ‘I’m back’ moment),” Sims said. Right now I’m staying in the moment and going out there to do my job.”

Young, the 29-year-old left-hander, doesn’t pitch anything like Sims. Young’s fastball is 90 mph, and he relies on mixing his changeup and his slider to keep hitters off-balanced. With the Reds, Young has embraced a different changeup grip that makes that pitch “disappear” and quickly drop in the zone. During spring training, Young met with the Reds’ coaching staff and recognized that he could develop that pitch into a strikeout pitch.

Young’s changeup has been the biggest reason behind his ascension up the bullpen depth chart and his 0.79 ERA. He pitched 1 ⅓ scoreless innings in Wednesday’s win, which added to a validating season for him.

“They said I don’t throw hard enough,” Young said. “There’s a long list (of doubters). I was up and down in the minors, came up, performed well, went downward. That’s when people started saying I shouldn’t be up here. I knew I should, but I just had to figure it out. That’s what keeps me going.”

Bell sees the diverse approaches in the Reds’ bullpen as an advantage. Young is the guy who gets strikeouts with his changeup, Sims has the eye-catching breaking balls and Ian Gibaut has velocity to match with a four-pitch mix. Buck Farmer has a more overpowering fastball that has good separation from his changeup.

Derek Law uses his cutter to get weak contact and a slider to get swings and misses, Fernando Cruz throws a unique splitter and Reiver Sanmartin has a low arm-angle and a distinct approach for a left-hander.

“It all pieces together real nice,” Bell said. “They have a great environment out there. They all support each other. Just really happy with how they all come together. Mainly, they just want to help us win games. That’s their focus. They’re ready to do whatever is asked of them.”