Julian Aguiar: Everything you need to know

Triple-A Louisville placed Aguiar on its 7-day injured list April 9 due to an unspecified injury. Aguiar missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from Oct. 11, 2024 Tommy John surgery, but he received a clean bill of health coming into spring training. He secured a spot in Louisville's season-opening rotation and posted a 9.28 ERA, 1.88 WHIP and 12:8 K:BB in 102. innings over three starts before hitting the shelf. Aguiar owns a spot on the Reds' 40-man roster, but he's buried on the organization's starting pitching depth chart and has now been out of action for nearly a month, which makes it unlikely that he contributes to the big club anytime soon.

The Reds optioned Aguiar to minor-league camp Friday. Aguiar is back healthy after Tommy John surgery, but he was always a good bet to begin the season in the minors. The 24-year-old will begin the season in the rotation at Triple-A Louisville.

Aguiar allowed three runs on four hits and struck out two over two innings in Friday's spring game against the Angels. After starter Rhett Lowder breezed through three innings, Aguiar entered and did not fare as well. The latter was tagged for all three runs in the fourth inning and has allowed six hits and four runs over four Cactus League frames. Aguiar is nominally in the mix for the final rotation spot, but both of his main rivals, Lowder and Chase Burns, have performed better.