The Reds have optioned former All-Star closer to Triple-A Louisville, per a team announcement. Fellow right-hander is being recalled from Louisville in his place. Mey will be making his MLB debut Anthony Rizzo Jersey the first time he takes the mound. Its been a brutal season for Diaz, who already lost the closers role in Cincinnati. The 28-year-old righty opened the year on the 15-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. He returned a couple weeks ago but has been pitching with a career-low 93 mph average fastball velocity. He currently has more walks (five) and home runs allowed (four) than strikeouts (three). The result is a ghastly 12.00 ERA, which was inflated heavily by yesterdays five-run meltdown against the Cardinals. Diazs decline hasnt been completely out of the blue. He was an excellent high-leverage arm in his first two seasons from 2022-23, finishing fifth in 22 NL Rookie of the Year voting and making the 23 All-Star team at the midpoint of a 37-save season. His 2024 campaign, however, was rife with red flags. Last years 3.99 ERA wasnt nece sarily a harbinger for significant decline in and of itself, but Diazs average heater dropped from 95.2 mph in 2022-23 to 93.9 mph in 2024. His strikeout rate, which had topped 30% in each of his first two seasons, fell to a pedestrian 22.7%. His swinging-strike rate checked in at just 11% last year after sitting at a gaudy 15.6% over the two prior seasons. Diaz has never had good command, walking more than 12% of his opponents even at his peak, which makes the precipitous decline in his ability to mi s bats all the more problematic. Diaz hasnt altered his pitch selection over the course of his career hes still a pure four-seam/slider reliever but the shape, velocity and quality of his pitches have all gone the wrong direction. Beyond the drop in fastball velocity, his slider has actually gained a bit le s than a mile per hour. What was once a nearly 9 mph gap between his heater and his slider is down to 5.7 mph at the moment. Hes also seen that slider lose a significant amount of its horizontal break; back in 2022, Statcast measured both the vertical and horizontal break of Diazs slider to be well above average. Theyre both more than two inches worse than average now, and the whiff rate on the pitch has plummeted from 45% in 22 to just 13% so far in 25. The Reds couldve non-tendered Diaz over the winter, but they kept him around and agreed to a $4.5MM salary for the current season. Depending on the length of this optional a signment, the demotion could push the right-handers path to free agency back by a year. He entered the season with exactly three years of MLB service, and if he spends more than two weeks in Louisville, he wont accrue a full year this season. Thatd push his free agency back from the 2027-28 offseason to the 2028-29 offseason. Of course, thatll only come into play if Diaz is able to restore some of his prior form. If he continues to struggle anywhere close to this level, hell be a non-tender candidate in November or perhaps even a DFA candidate between now and seasons end. For the time being, hell look to get back on track in Triple-A. Turning to the 23-year-old Mey, hell add a flamethrowing arm to Terry Franconas bullpen but one whose command troubles arent all that di similar from those of Diaz. Mey is averaging a colo sal 99.1 mph on his power sinker this year, but hes walked at least 15.6% of his opponents in each of his four years of full-season ball in the minors. He doled free pa ses at a grisly 17.6% clip in 55 innings between High-A and Double-A last year, and hes walked 16.7% of his opponents in nine Triple-A frames in 2025. The glut of walks hasnt nece sarily been offset by prominent strikeout rates. Mey has been average or better in that regard throughout his career but has never really climbed into plus range. His strikeout rate has hovered between 23% and 28% from year to year, settling at a collective 25.9% rate dating back to 2021. Similarly, his sinker has produced strong but not quite elite ground-ball rates as hes climbed the minor league ladder. He clocked in at 52% there in 2024 and has a 54.2% grounder rate so far in 2025. The sheer power of Meys sinker, coupled with a slider thats drawn anywhere from above-average to plus grades on scouting reports, gives Mey the foundation of a potentially dominant reliever. Hell need to substantially improve upon his command in order to reach that ceiling, but hes an intriguing arm for the Reds to take a look at in place of their newly demoted closer. Mey will presumably slot into low-leverage situations to start out his big league career. Jared Serna Jersey