Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Finnegan frustrated by demotion to minor leagues

LOUISVILLE — Sitting in the dugout following batting practice at Louisville Slugger Field, Brandon Finnegan doesn’t hide his emotions:

He’s upset he’s pitching in Triple-A.

He lost his spot in the rotation when the Reds traded for Matt Harvey. He thought “at most” he would be placed in the bullpen.

But the minor leagues? He said he felt blindsided, especially after flying with the team to Los Angeles.

Despite giving up 17 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings (7.40 ERA), he thought he was starting to show improvement.

“I felt like I had two pretty good starts up in Cincinnati,” Finnegan said. “You can’t do anything about getting taken out of the game after 70 pitches. (Reds interim manager Jim) Riggleman loves using the bullpen; that’s his thing. That part was out of my hands. Besides that, two of my five starts I had, I thought were pretty good. I was attacking guys.”

Finnegan clarified there are no hard feelings with Riggleman. He’s the type of starting pitcher who hates coming out of games, whether it’s in the fourth inning or seventh inning.

He disagrees with the quick hooks, but says, “every team has a pitcher that gets taken out before they want to get taken out.”

The Reds still view Finnegan as a starting pitcher, which is why he was sent to Louisville. Jeff Fassero, Louisville’s pitching coach, sensed Finnegan’s frustration and had a long chat with him in the left-field bullpen on Finnegan’s first day with the team.

Whether it’s in the rotation or the bullpen, Finnegan said he’s out to prove he deserves to be pitching in the Majors.

“I just want to be in the big leagues,” Finnegan said. “Whatever helps the team out is what I want to do. I’ve proven I can start. I’ve proven I can be in the pen.”

Finnegan, 25, never spent much time in the minor leagues. A first-round pick by the Kansas City Royals in 2014, he was the first player to ever pitch in the College World Series and MLB World Series in the same season.

He spent about half the season in the minors in 2015, the same year he was the top prospect traded to the Reds in exchange for Johnny Cueto.

The left-hander showed his potential as a starter with the Reds in 2016, but missed most of last season because of multiple shoulder injuries. He opened this year on the disabled list with a biceps injury and tried to make an immediate impact when he returned.

“When you start pressing, you want to hit every single spot,” Finnegan said. “I’ve never been a guy that hits spots. My ball has too much movement on it and I’ve succeeded too much with everything to start trying to change that now.

“I’m not going to let five starts dictate the fact that I’ve had a bad career. So far, I’ve had a really good career and I’m proud of what I’ve done but I always want to be better.”

Pitching at Louisville, Finnegan said he’s changed his mindset. He’s going to attack hitters the way he’s done in the past. He thought the demotion was a good wakeup call.

In his second start at Louisville on Monday, Finnegan tossed six innings and struck out five. He allowed eight hits but only one earned run and two walks. During his struggles in the Majors, he thought he was one good start away from finding his groove.

He was hopeful, he said, that he would be allowed to pitch through his struggles without a trip to the minor leagues. Now his goal is to use his frustration as motivation.

“It pisses you off, honestly,” Finnegan said. “It’s like, ‘All right I’m going to show them.’ Clearly, they don’t have that confidence in me right now, so I’ll prove to them that I’m fine. It just took a couple starts, that’s all.

“That’s how it was with Homer (Bailey), too. It’s not bashing Homer at all. Homer was gone for 2.5, 3 years. It’s going to take him a while to get back at it. Everybody understands that with him. I was hoping I’d get kind of the same reaction, but that’s fine. I’m not going to make excuses. I’m just going to come down here and do my work.”

Finnegan is confident that he’s fixed the problems that hurt him with the Reds. And he’s hopeful that it will be a short stay in Louisville.

“I think there was some anger behind it that got me going so this could be a blessing in disguise,” Finnegan said. “At the same time, nobody wants to get sent down. I’ve been up in the big leagues since I got drafted.

“I know I belong there. Just hoping to get back.”