Tejay

Antone

A little under a week after electing free agency, Antone is back with the organization he’s been with since 2014. The 31-year-old was once among the better relief prospects in baseball and looked like he was on his way to becoming a closer, but injuries have derailed his career with only nine MLB appearances since 2021. He’ll get a chance to win a spot in the Reds’ bullpen this spring.

There’s an alternate reality where Antone stays healthy and blossoms into one of the premier high-leverage arms in the game. Unfortunately, the 31-year-old’s promising career has been derailed by an avalanche of elbow issues since undergoing Tommy John surgery back in 2021. Simply put, his fastball velocity hasn’t rebounded following multiple elbow procedures. There’s likely to be an organization out there willing to kick the tires in spring training as a low-risk dice roll after he became a minor league free agent earlier this week.

Antone has given up 15 runs over 11 1/3 innings at three levels since returning to the mound. He averaged 94.7 mph with his fastball last night. That’s down two mph from 2021, when he had a 2.14 ERA in 33 2/3 innings out of the Reds pen, but it’s considerably better than the 93.1 mph he averaged before requiring surgery last year.

Antone is back in the fold with Cincinnati as extra organizational relief depth after being jettisoned earlier this month from the club’s 40-man roster. The 30-year-old right-hander, who made four appearances last year for the Reds, was one of the better high-leverage relief weapons in the game a few years ago, but his career has been derailed by an avalanche of elbow issues. At this point, he’s more of a low-probability lottery ticket than anything else for Cincinnati heading into 2025.

Antone went unclaimed and has elected to stay in the Cincinnati organization. The 30-year-old will have a chance to compete for a bullpen spot in 2025 if he’s healthy, but will need to be added back to the 40-man roster if the Reds wanted him to pitch in the majors.

The Reds made the move to add Livan Soto to the 40-man roster. The 30-year-old has now had three elbow surgery during his career, so it’ll be a challenge for the right-hander to make it back on the mound in the major leagues.

Antone told reporters this week that he’s planning to make it back to the big leagues again and has zero plans to retire. Whether he’ll actually be able to return following his third elbow surgery is an entirely different matter.

It’s a brutal blow for the 30-year-old Antone, who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. While he flashed intriguing upside in the past when healthy, there’s a high likelihood that we may never see Antone on a major league mound again.

The 30-year-old hurler was pulled from Sunday’s appearance against the Mets after only one pitch due to the injury. It’s a crushing blow to the Reds’ bullpen and to Antone personally, as he fought so hard over the past two years to return from his second Tommy John surgery. The severity of the injury won’t be known until after Monday’s exam, but expect that Antone will be heading to the injured list regardless.

Antone threw just one pitch before leaving the contest. There should be an update on his status before the conclusion of Sunday’s game. Antone was a big part of the Cincinnati bullpen when healthy, but he’s struggled to stay on the diamond since the start of 2021.