Young and Talented Lefty Set to Begin Season on Injured List For Cincinnati Reds

Andrew Abbott, recovering from a shoulder injury at the end of the 2024 season, is going to begin the year on the shelf for Terry Francona's club.

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott (41) walks off the field during a pitching change in the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park in 2024. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

Cincinnati Reds' young left-hander Andrew Abbott is going to start the year on the injured list as he recovers from a shoulder injury that shelved him at the end of 2024.

Gordon Wittenmyer, who covers the Reds, had the information on social media:

Reds have told Andrew Abbott he’ll open on IL. Carson Spiers will open as fifth starter.

Reds have told Andrew Abbott he’ll open on IL. Carson Spiers will open as fifth starter.

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubMLB) March 20, 2025

The 25-year-old Abbott was a second-round pick back in 2021 out of the University of Virginia. He made his major league debut in 2023 and has 46 career starts under his belt.

In 2024, he went 10-10 with a 3.72 ERA, making 25 starts and tossing 138.0 innings. He struck out 114 hitters in that time. He's thrown just three innings in spring training thus far.

The Reds are coming off a season that saw them finish in fourth in the National League Central. They hired future Hall of Famer Terry Francona as their manager in the offseason and feel better about their chances in 2025.

Spiers, 27, is heading into the third year of his big-league career, all with the Reds. He's gone 5-8 lifetime with a 5.64 ERA. He went undrafted in the COVID-shortened 2020 draft and debuted in the Reds system in 2021.

Cincinnati will open up the season on March 27 at home against the San Francisco Giants. We already know that Hunter Greene will take the ball in that one for the Reds against Giants' righty Logan Webb.

Francona has not elected to name the order in which the other starters will take the ball for the first time just yet.

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