Cincinnati Reds Prolong Rehab Stint For Key Reliever

The Cincinnati Reds are closing in on a return for injured reliever Tejay Antone, but he won't be back in the Queen City just yet.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Antone (elbow) agreed Sunday to extend his rehab assignment an additional 10 days, Charlie Goldsmith of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

ANALYSIS
After opening his rehab assignment July 25, Antone was nearing the end of his 30-day rehab window, but MLB rules will allow him to extend the assignment because he's working his way back from August 2021 Tommy John surgery. Antone was initially expected to be fully cleared for spring training, but those plans were thwarted when he suffered a right flexor strain while rehabbing over the winter. He appears to have steered clear of any further setbacks since he started throwing again in April, and he's turned in respectable results thus far during his rehab assignment. In seven appearances at Triple-A Louisville, Antone has given up four earned runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out seven over 7.1 innings.

The Reds enter play on Tuesday at 64-61 and 1.0 game back in the National League wild card race. It's unknown what kind of impact Antone will have when he comes back, but he was a huge part of the Reds bullpen before getting injured.

He was 2-0 in 2021 through 33.2 innings. He struck out 42 batters over that time and had three saves. He has a lifetime 2.48 ERA in 36 appearances.