Reds’ Andrew Abbott Pushes For Callup

After going unselected in the shortened 2020 draft, lefthander Andrew Abbott returned to Virginia and as a senior joined the Cavaliers’ rotation.

He struck out 162 batters with just 32 walks in 106.2 innings while posting a 2.87 ERA in his final collegiate season of 2021. His performance led to the Reds drafting him in the second round later that summer.

Coming out of college, Abbott threw a fastball, curveball and changeup. Many Reds pitchers throw a slider, so Abbott added it to his arsenal in 2022. 

“He’s a naturally curious guy,” Reds vice president of player development Shawn Pender said. “If you run something by him, he’s not going to just push it away, he’s going to figure things out.”

After starting the 2022 season on a roll, Abbott earned a promotion to Double-A Chattanooga after just five outings, but he proved to be inconsistent there for much of the summer.

Refining a second breaking ball helped him close out his season with 16 shutout innings to go along with just three walks and 21 strikeouts in his last three starts.

The 23-year-old picked up right where he left off to start the 2023 campaign. In his first three Southern League starts, Abbott struck out 36 batters in 15.2 innings to earn a promotion to Triple-A Louisville.

“The slider has been a big part of our pitch design,” Pender said. “Our coordinators and analysts do a great job of figuring out what a pitch shape needs to be to correlate to the fastball, or what other movements we’re looking for—and Abbott’s done that as well.“

Abbott’s slider is a potential plus pitch and it has helped the 6-foot, 192-pound lefthander give hitters something else to think about. And they were thinking about it a lot.

Since reaching Triple-A, Abbott has continued to strike out plenty of hitters. Through six starts with Louisville he had 46 strikeouts and 14 walks in 31.1 innings while posting a 3.16 ERA.

A quick ascension through the minors now has the Abbott knocking on the door fewer than two years after being drafted.