Tampa Bay Rays trade Jose De Leon to Cincinnati Reds
Seemingly with a unique story from day one, Jose De Leon added yet another chapter on Wednesday as the Tampa Bay Rays traded the right-hander to the Cincinnati Reds for cash and a player to be named later.
De Leon has been a highly-regarded prospect at times in his journey since being a 24th round draft pick in 2013 by the Dodgers. A Puerto Rico native, attended small Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge.
In his first full season, De Leon broke through with a big year, striking out 119 in 77 innings, posting a 2.22 ERA across two levels. He followed up by working up to Double-A in 2015, striking out 163 in 114 1/3 innings. His big year led to him being ranked in the top 30 overall on top 100 prospect lists for Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB Pipeline.
De Leon reached the majors in 2016 at the end of another huge year in Triple-A. He struggled in that debut, which led to him dropping a little in ranking services, but he was still a consensus top-40 guy. The Dodgers traded him that offseason for infielder Logan Forsythe.
That's when the injuries started. Shoulder issues delayed his 2017 season until mid-May, and then he only tossed 41 innings total that season as the shoulder barked a few more times. He then succumbed to Tommy John surgery in Spring Training 2018 and missed the entire season, returning mid-year in 2019.
The results for De Leon were good in 2019, with 74 strikeouts in 56 minor league innings, and he even recorded seven punchouts in four big-league innings.
The issue is that De Leon is no longer a guy who touches in the mid-90s with his fastball and pairs it with a devastating double-plus change. The change is still very good, certainly above-average, but his time away led to a notable loss in movement with the pitch. His slider and curve were always fringe-average to average pitches and remain such.
Essentially, De Leon is now 27 with 23.2 major league innings under his belt with a 6.71 FIP to show for it, even if he has posted a 9.13 K/9. The Reds are gambling that his second year back from Tommy John will see him return to what was previously fringe-plus command and control before the shoulder issues began. He will need that level of control to survive as a starter, otherwise, he could potentially work as a mop-up arm.