Tag: Carson Spiers

Carson Spiers has clutch outing for Cincinnati Reds

The former Clemson pitcher got back on track Sunday.

Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers turned in a much-needed scoreless outing in his latest appearance for the Cincinnati Reds.

Spiers tossed four scoreless innings in the Reds’ 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Sunday. He scattered three hits without allowing a walk and struck out one.

The 26-year-old right-hander began the year primarily with the Reds’ Triple A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. After several back-and-forth stops between Triple A and the major league club, the Reds recalled Spiers on June 9. He has been in a big league uniform since then.

With his performance Sunday, Spiers’ ERA is at 5.13 through 16 games, including nine starts. Beginning on June 17, he made eight straight starts as a member of the Reds’ starting rotation before being shuffled back and forth between the rotation and bullpen.

In two of his last three starts, Spiers particularly had a rough go of things. He was roughed up for eight earned runs in five innings against Milwaukee on Aug. 9. Against the Blue Jays on Aug. 20, he yielded nine earned runs in 4 1/3 innings at Toronto.

Spiers pitched for Clemson from 2017-20. He signed with Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent in June 2020 and made his major league debut in 2023. In four seasons with the Tigers, Spiers had a 2.47 ERA in 109 1/3 innings across 71 relief appearances. He was named to the 2019 NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List.

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Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers ‘above and beyond’ in Cincinnati Reds return

Carson Spiers had his best start of the season Monday against the Chicago Cubs.

Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers made quite an impressive return to the mound for the Cincinnati Reds Monday night.

Spiers (4-2) returned from a stint on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement to throw five scoreless innings of one-hit ball in the Reds’ 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park. He struck out four batters and walked two to earn his fourth win of the season.

Spiers, who pitched for Clemson from 2017-2020, retired the last 12 batters he faced after allowing a first-inning single to Chicago’s Ian Happ. The 26-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 3.46 in eight total appearances, earning praise from Reds manager David Bell.

“His first time back, we were looking at 50 to 60 pitches, maybe,” Bell told reporters. “He went above and beyond that. It’s good to know Carson’s healthy.”

It was Spiers’ sixth start this season after sliding into the rotation in mid-June. He’s since thrown three quality starts in addition to 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against the Cubs in his last non-relief outing back on June 9.

Spiers said he was pleased with Monday’s 68-pitch performance.

“Some kinks and things to work through, sure, but just kind of how baseball is. Take two weeks off, you’ve got to brush through those rusty things,” Spiers said.

“I definitely wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be, but what I told [pitching coach Derek Johnson] after the game is I made the pitch when I needed to and luckily the cutter was pretty good.”

Spiers’ next start should come Sunday when the Reds host the San Francisco Giants at Great American Ball Park.

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Carson Spiers defying the odds with MLB’s Cincinnati Reds

Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers wasn’t expected to deliver the type of results he’s shown so far this season.

All things considered, former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers is putting together a pretty incredible season on the mound for the Cincinnati Reds.

At the All-Star break, the right-hander is 3-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 10 appearances over 47 innings. He made five straight starts beginning on June 17 when he entered the Reds’ rotation and threw six innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates opposite rookie sensation Paul Skenes.

Spiers made his final start of the first half in the Reds’ 7-4 victory over the Miami Marlins at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park last Friday. He picked up the win by holding the Marlins to three runs in five innings of work.

Spiers struck out the first six batters he faced en route to a career-high nine-strikeout performance without allowing a walk. A day later, he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a shoulder impingement. The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans reported that Spiers received a clean MRI and that he should only miss one start because of the All-Star break.

Since entering the Reds’ rotation, Spiers has thrown five innings or more in four of his five starts — including a string of three straight appearances with six innings pitched.

His best outing to date came in a 9-4 Cincinnati win against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 29 at Busch Stadium. In that game, Spiers allowed one earned run on three hits and a walk while striking out four batters over six innings.

Becoming a starter was a new terrain for the Greenville native when he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Reds in 2020. Spiers made 71 appearances in four seasons at Clemson, all in relief. He threw 109 1/3 innings with the Tigers and had a 2.47 ERA.

After the Reds assigned Spiers to their Class A affiliate in 2021, he went on to start 20 games that year and has worked his way up through the Reds’ organizational depth chart as a starter since then.

Only thing is, Spiers isn’t supposed to be in the big leagues. He was recalled by the major league club and optioned back to Triple A Louisville twice this season before landing a more steady spot on the roster due to injuries to the Reds’ staff — and Spiers’ own effectiveness.

The Cincinnati Enquirer‘s Charlie Goldsmith recently detailed Spiers’ unexpected success. He quipped that Spiers and rookie teammate Rece Hinds might be “in the process of Wally Pipp-ing some of their teammates as they move their way up the depth chart.”

Spiers is still a long way from having an All-Star caliber season like those gathered in Arlington, Texas, for this year’s Midsummer Classic. But there’s no question that Spiers has shown progression in his second major league season. He made his big league debut in 2023, pitching 13 innings in four appearances. Spiers had a 6.92 ERA with 12 strikeouts and seven walks last year.

A strong second half would go a long way in determining whether Spiers can establish himself as a potential longterm big league starter.

The Reds open the second half against the Washington Nationals in D.C. Friday. The team enters the All-Star break at 47-50, fourth in the National League Central. They’re currently eight games behind first-place Milwaukee and three games back in the race for a Wild Card spot.

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Former Clemson pitcher makes first start of 2024 for MLB’s Cincinnati Reds

Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers made his first major league start of 2024 this week.

Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers is back on the big league roster for the Cincinnati Reds and recently made his first major league start of 2024.

Spiers pitched six innings in the Reds’ 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Monday. He threw 104 pitches (74 strikes) and allowed four runs on seven hits, striking out five batters and issuing one walk.

Spiers, who pitched for Clemson from 2017-2020, allowed all four runs in the first two innings but settled down to toss four scoreless frames to close out his night against Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes.

It was only the third start for Spiers in his young MLB career. He started two games for the Reds in his rookie season in 2023, logging 13 innings in four appearances and finishing with a 6.92 ERA.

Spiers is currently in his third stint with the big league club this season after splitting time between Cincinnati and the Louisville Bats, the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in the International League.

The 26-year-old right-hander has made nine appearances (eight starts) for the Bats this season, going 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA. He had 49 strikeouts to 15 walks in 46 2/3 innings, holding opposing hitters to a .197 average before his most recent call-up.

Back on May 26, Spiers tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to help the Reds sweep the first place Los Angeles Dodgers. He struck out MLB stars Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts in the Reds’ 4-1 victory over the Dodgers at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.

RELATED: Watch as former Clemson pitcher strikes out Shohei Ohtani

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Watch former Clemson pitcher strike out Shohei Ohtani

Clemson alum Carson Spiers had quite a day for the Cincinnati Reds Sunday.

How many former Clemson Tigers pitchers can lay claim to having struck out Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani?

Aside from Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider, we’re not entirely sure.

Nevertheless, former Tigers standout Carson Spiers threw 3 1/3 innings of solid relief in the Cincinnati Reds’ 4-1 victory over the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers at Great American Ball Park on Sunday.

Spiers struck out three batters without allowing a walk. One of those strikeout victims was Ohtani (Mookie Betts was another).

Spiers’ efforts helped the Reds finish off a three-game sweep of the Dodgers.

Sunday marked Spiers’ fourth relief appearance this season. In 13 2/3 innings, the 26-year-old right-hander has a 3.29 ERA with eight strikeouts and three walks.

Spiers made his major league debut with the Reds in 2023 and pitched in four games, including two starts. He finished 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in 13 innings.

A South Carolina native, Spiers attended Greenville High School before joining Clemson in 2017. In four years with the Tigers, he went 7-7 with a 2.47 ERA and 19 saves in 109 1/3 innings. The Reds signed Spiers as an non-drafted free agent in 2020.

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Former Clemson pitcher Carson Spiers makes his MLB debut for the Cincinnati Reds

Carson Spiers made the first appearance of his MLB career.

CLEMSON, S.C. – Former Tiger righthander Carson Spiers (Greenville, S.C.) made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds as a starter on the mound at home against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon. He pitched 4.0 innings (87 pitches), allowing five hits, three runs and two walks with seven strikeouts.

Spiers, the nephew of former Tiger and 13-year MLB veteran Bill Spiers and son of former Clemson baseball player Michael Spiers, became the sixth former Tiger to play in an MLB game with the Reds and first since 2022 (Chris Okey). He also became the 69th former Tiger overall to play in a major league game and seventh in 2023. He became the second former Tiger to make his MLB debut in 2023 as well, joining Weston Wilson.

The two-time All-ACC Academic selection and four-time ACC Academic Honor Roll member had a 7-7 record, 19 saves, a 2.47 ERA, .180 opponents’ batting average and 103 strikeouts against 38 walks in 109.1 innings pitched over 71 relief appearances in his Tiger career (2017-20), as he never started a game in a Clemson uniform. His 5.76 hits-per-nine-innings-pitched mark (third), 19 saves (tied for third) and 2.47 ERA are all top-10 career marks in the Tiger recordbook.

In 2018, his second season at Clemson, he had four saves, a 2.08 ERA and .149 opponents’ batting average in 43.1 innings pitched. Spiers was a Third-Team All-ACC selection in 2019, when he received the Tiger Baseball Award as the team’s best leader and was named a team co-captain. That year, he had 11 saves and a 3.59 ERA in 30 relief appearances. After the shortened 2020 season, when he had a 3-0 record, four saves, an 0.00 ERA and an .098 opponents’ batting average in 15.1 innings pitched, he signed a free-agent contract with the Reds.

Spiers played at every level of the Reds’ organization in the minor leagues between 2021-23. In 2023 with the Reds’ AA affiliate (Chattanooga), he is 8-3 with a 3.69 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 83.0 innings pitched over 28 appearances (nine starts). In 316.1 innings pitched over 80 appearances (52 starts) in his minor league career, he is 20-13 with one save, a 4.27 ERA and 341 strikeouts.

Every Tiger team from 1974 to 2020 had at least one future major leaguer on its roster.

-Via Clemson Athletic Communications