Abbott Answers the Question, Who's on First

Andrew Abbott can answer the age old baseball question from Lou Costello to Bud Abbott (no relation); Who’s on First?

The 25-year old lefty who bears a resemblance to TV’s Ron Howard, has the answer; “Nobody.”

Abbott suffered from an aching left shoulder from August of last season and the Reds were cautious with him to start the season. He now has eight starts to his name in 2025 does not have enough innings to qualify on the MLB pitching leaderboards.

That is a mere technicality because he is 4-0 having tamed the red hot Chicago Cubs on Saturday with one run in 5 ⅔ innings. Kyle Tucker singled in the first inning in the Reds 6-4 win. It was the first time in nine games, dating back to last season that Abbott allowed a hit in the first inning.

The University of Virginia grad sports an ERA of 1.77 dropping it from the 1.80 at the start of Saturday’s game. It would put him in the fourth spot in MLB behind Max Fried 1.29, Kris Bubic 1.47 and Nathan Eovaldi 1.60.

His WHIP is 1.114. It is below his career average of 1.282. He would rank fifth in strikeouts per nine innings with 11.1.

The most important statistic of all Abbott made eight starts. He allowed one earned run or fewer in seven of them. In two of his starts, including one in Colorado in which he allowed his season-high four earned runs, Abbott he walked five batters. His next start against St. Louis he walked four but only gave up one unearned run. In all of his other six starts, including the win over the Cubs, Abbott walked three or fewer. He pitched two consecutive games in which he walked no one.

Abbott may not have been as sharp on Saturday against the Cubs but still held the team that is a scoring machine to one lone run.

“They hit a lot of my mistakes,” Abbott said of his winning outing against the Cubs. “But we had them played right. I made pitches when I had to.”

The lone run Abbotte allowed was a home run by Justin Turner. Abbott is a fly ball pitcher in a small ballpark and is susceptible to the home run, four in eight starts but he makes sure that who’s on first is, “Nobody.”