Reds Activate Emilio Pagan From 60-Day Injured List

The Cincinnati Reds (56-60) have had one of the sport's best bullpens this season, entering Saturday ranked fifth in MLB in bullpen ERA at 3.56. That bullpen looks to get even better going forward. The Reds activated reliever Emilio Pagan from the 60-day injured list on Saturday.

Pagan, 33, signed a two-year, $16 million contract this past offseason. Now in his eighth Major League season, the previous seven were spent with five different teams.

Entering 2024, Pagan held a career ERA of 3.71 across 400 innings with 456 strikeouts and a 112 ERA+ in 369 games. Before his injury this season, Pagan was pitching to a 4.43 ERA across 20 1/3 innings with 26 strikeouts and a 98 ERA+ over 22 games.

While his numbers this season are higher than his career numbers, that is mostly caused by one rough outing on May 3rd. Pitching against the Baltimore Orioles (69-48), Pagan allowed three earned runs on four hits and only recorded two outs. Outside of that one appearance, he has only allowed two or more runs once and has pitched scoreless outings in 14 of his 22 appearances.

Pagan's repertoire includes a four-seam fastball, cutter, and splitter. He leans heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 57 percent of the time. It is the best pitch of his repertoire, accruing 27 points of Run-Value throughout his career per Baseball Savant.

To make room for Pagan, the Reds optioned Yosver Zulueta . The Reds have two available spots on their 40-man roster, so no additional moves are necessary.