The Cincinnati Reds have released left-handed reliever Philippe-Alexandre Valiquette, according to Beyond the Box Score's Dave Gershman. Gershman adds the reliever has thrown 98 miles-per-hour on the radar gun at times, some like FanGraphs Dave Cameron have seen him throw 100 on the gun (see more below).The move was confirmed by the Reds transactions page.
The reliever's release opens up room on the Reds 40-man roster, but the Reds have not used the vacant roster spot yet.
Valiquette, 24, has not pitched this season because of injury. Valiquette does possess a powerful arm, but he's never developed anything to go along with it. Add in recent injuries that have sidelined him for long periods of time, Valiquette is one of those what-could-have-been pitchers.
FanGraphs Dave Cameron saw the southpaw pitch in May of last year, here's what he had to say after seeing him hit 100 miles-per-hour on his radar gun:
You don’t see legit 100s on the radar gun from the left side very often. It was, to the say the least, an impressive fastball.
The command wasn’t great and the secondary stuff was borderline awful, but the fastball was enough for him to make hitters look foolish. Given the velocity, I figured when I checked his career minor league line upon returning home that he’d be running big strikeout totals at the least. To my surprise, he’s only racked up 245 strikeouts in 311 innings pitched over six minor league seasons, and his second trip through Double-A isn’t going very well this year. The walks aren’t a big surprise, but I was shocked to see that he’s been this ineffective in the low minors with a huge fastball.