CINCINNATI — Rhett Lowder, 22 years old and 418 days removed from being taken by the Cincinnati Reds with the seventh pick in the 2023 draft, sat at the table in the interview room at Great American Ball Park and seemingly couldn’t stop smiling.
Lowder’s debut wasn’t perfect. He didn’t pitch long enough to qualify for the win and suffered the loss, but he allowed just one run on a pair of hits with six strikeouts and four walks in four innings, as they fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 14-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. The important part was not just that Lowder made his debut, but that he will be getting the ball every fifth day for much of the team’s remaining 26 games in the 2024 season.
While Friday’s start isn’t the destination, it is the beginning, a milestone every player must clear before finding out who they are as a big leaguer.
“I remember how I felt when I woke up this morning, what it was like eating breakfast,” Lowder said, still beaming even after the Brewers’ 10-run ninth inning that he watched from the team’s dugout. “I remember everything. It was a crazy day.”
On a blazing hot day in Cincinnati with temperatures reaching 97 degrees, Lowder sat through extra innings before finally getting his chance to turn to his own game. Lowder said once he started going through the Brewers’ lineup in his pregame preparation, the nerves disappeared.
“Honestly, I was surprisingly more confident than I thought I’d be,” he said.
Lowder’s first pitch of the night was a 94.3 mph fastball that Brewers leadoff man Brice Turang watched for a strike. His second was a ball, his third a foul. In the end, Lowder walked Turang, who would steal second. Lowder then went full again to the two-hole hitter Blake Perkins, a battle that featured a gift of a called strike and a swing at a pitch that may or may not have been in the zone, before he walked him on six pitches.
That’s when Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson came out to talk to the rookie.
“I wasn’t really worried about it because I felt like I was making good pitches, I didn’t really feel like I was getting sped up,” Lowder said. “(Johnson) came out and kind of said the same thing, keep doing what I do and things will come back my way.”
Brewers DH William Contreras watched a first-pitch ball and then hit a sinker straight into the ground for a force at second, giving Lowder his first out. Brewers cleanup batter Jake Bauers then gifted the rookie an out, attempting to bunt the first pitch he saw and popping it right back to the pitcher.
“Yeah, that was nice,” Lowder said. “We just kind of went from there.”
From there, Lowder did look more composed, even if he walked two more and allowed a run in his fourth and final inning.
Rhett Lowder has his first Major League strikeout 👏 pic.twitter.com/k9WYLwBvXq
— MLB (@MLB) August 30, 2024
“It was fun to watch him (get out of jams) because typically your first time you’re just trying to survive,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He was out there trying to get it done. He was competing exactly the way we want. … It was fun to watch.”
Lowder used all four of his pitches, throwing 26 four-seam fastballs, 21 sinkers, 17 sliders and 13 changeups. He got four whiffs on his slider and two on each of his other three pitches, for 10 total to go along with 15 called strikes.
“I think when I’m at my best, I’m using them all,” Lowder said. “The changeup needs to get more in the zone, but I think it’ll come. I’m not too worried about that pitch. I was just trying to keep hitters off, mixing levels and speed. I feel like that’s when I’m at my best.”
Lowder’s 77 pitches were not far from the max the team had planned out for him, with Bell saying he probably could’ve faced a couple more batters in the fifth. But due to the trouble Lowder had gotten into with runners in scoring position in each inning, lefty Sam Moll was already up and warmed up, so he came in for the fifth.
The one run charged to Lowder was, for at least Friday, earned. Lowder’s fourth and final walk of the night came to the second batter of the inning, right fielder Garrett Mitchell, whom Lowder struck out in the second for his first career K. After the five-pitch walk, Mitchell stole second, the third steal off of Lowder and Tyler Stephenson and one of four on the night.
After a strikeout of Andruw Monasterio, Sal Frelic hit a sharp grounder to third, where Reds third baseman Noelvi Marte went to his right and the ball bounced off his glove. Shortstop Elly De La Cruz fielded the ball off the carom and made a good throw to the plate, but couldn’t get Mitchell who was running hard throughout the play.
Lowder responded with a strikeout of catcher Eric Hasse, ending his night.
“I think he did really well to escape only giving up the one run he gave up because he was behind in the count a little bit, but you’re going to have days like that,” said Reds backup catcher Luke Maile. “For a young guy to come up in his first start ever, his first time being in a major-league field, fall behind in some counts, have some traffic and still be able to navigate one of the better offenses in the league, I think that’s something.”
Lowder will likely get his next start against the Houston Astros before taking the road and getting his first taste of pitching in an opposing stadium.
After throwing 120 1/3 innings at Wake Forest last season, the Reds didn’t have Lowder pitch in any games last year after he was drafted. He started this season at High-A Dayton. Even with the four innings he threw Friday, he’s up to just 112 2/3 innings so far this season, so making four or five more starts wouldn’t push him too far beyond what he did even a year ago in college.
“Of course first major-league season, first professional season, we’ll keep close tabs on him,” Bell said. “As far as innings, we think he’s good to go to finish the year. Not only that will be good for his experience this year, but it’ll be great going into next season.”
(Photo: Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)
