Coors Field is where pitchers go to have their command questioned. Brady Singer answered the question on Friday, working seven innings for the Reds without issuing a walk — four hits, two runs, six strikeouts, and one mistake to Willi Castro that left the yard.
It was the third consecutive start in which Singer has looked like the pitcher Cincinnati thought it was getting. He gave Philadelphia 7 1/3 innings and one earned run on July 9, then followed the break with this. Across those two outings plus a five-inning, two-run start against Baltimore on July 3, he has allowed five earned runs in 19 1/3 innings, a 2.33 ERA over three turns. The season line still reads 4-9 with a 4.56 ERA, which is what happens when a pitcher spends April and May working behind in counts on a team that scores in bunches or not at all.
The walks are the tell. Singer issued five in five innings against the Orioles two weeks ago, then one and zero in his next two starts. That is the difference between a start that ends in the fifth with the bullpen scrambling and one that hands a two-run lead to the eighth inning. Brock Burke and Tejay Antone finished it with a scoreless inning each, and Cincinnati won 7-2.
The context matters more than usual right now. Cincinnati is 44-52 and 15 1/2 games behind Milwaukee, which means the front office spends the next 17 days fielding calls rather than making them. Bob Nightengale has already reported interest in Spencer Steer from the Blue Jays, Mariners and Yankees, and MLB.com has raised the possibility of Hunter Greene being made available now that Chase Burns is signed long term. A starter who has cut his walks to one in two starts and can give a contender seven innings is not a headline trade candidate, but he is exactly the sort of arm a club calls about in the last week of July when the price on the top names holds firm.
Whether Cincinnati would move him is a different question. Singer has been the rotation’s most durable presence with Nick Lodolo on the injured list, and a team that trades Steer and Greene still has to put nine innings on the board every night.
In fantasy terms Singer has moved from droppable to a legitimate two-start streamer in 12-team mixed leagues, though the recommendation comes with a caveat: this run came at Coors and in Philadelphia, so the results are more about the walk rate than the matchups. Ride it while the command holds, and reassess the moment he issues four free passes again.
