When the Cincinnati Reds acquired José De León in November of 2019 in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, he was coming off of a quality year in Triple-A as he returned from Tommy John surgery. He had posted a 3.51 ERA in 51.1 innings with 73 strikeouts for Triple-A Durham, and also had a 2.25 ERA in three outings at the big league level with the Rays. His stuff wasn’t quite where it was when he was one of the top prospects in the game (he was twice rated as a Top 30 prospect in baseball by Baseball America).
José De León’s confidence could lead to a spot in the Reds rotation
