Alex Wood to make Cincinnati Reds debut on Sunday

‘member him?

Finally, finally we are going to be able to use a different picture of Alex Wood when writing about him as a part of the Cincinnati Reds.

The former Los Angeles Dodgers lefty has been sidelined since late February with back issues, his spasms having sapped his ability to contribute at the big league level all season long. That’s going to change as of Saturday, however, as he’s set to make his team debut against the Colorado Rockies, the Reds announced earlier today.

Wood, 28, certainly timed his return well, as he’s just now ready on the heels of Tyler Mahle having hit the DL. Lucas Sims obviously got the fill-in start for Mahle against Milwaukee earlier this week, but with the odds highly unlikely that Wood makes a lone cameo start for the Reds and is moved by the July 31st trade deadline, he figures to slot into the rotation for the forseeable future.

Obviously, Wood projects to be a major addition to a Reds club that, to date, still has intentions on contending in 2019. He’s the owner of a career 3.29 ERA spanning his time with the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves, including a run between 2017-2018 where he pitched to a 125 ERA+ across 304 innings. If you’d have polled Reds fans after their litany of moves this winter and prior to the start of spring training, you probably would’ve found a good number of folks who would’ve tabbed Wood to be the club’s Opening Day starter, in all honesty.

Now, he looks like a potentially excellent mid-season reinforcement to a rotation that has already been one of the absolute best in the league. Imagine that - the Reds with a wealth of pitching riches!