Photo: Doug Gray
The Cincinnati Reds don’t play a game today but they made multiple roster moves on Thursday afternoon. Hunter Greene is officially assigned to the Arizona Complex League Reds to begin a rehab assignment. We wrote about that and how you can follow along earlier today. Reliever Pierce Johnson was also officially sent out on a rehab assignment as he’ll be joining Triple-A Louisville this evening in Gwinnett, Georgia. The bigger news, though, is that Cincinnati has added catcher Will Banfield to the 40-man roster. The team then optioned him to Triple-A, where he’s been all season (this is just a procedural move where he technically had to be optioned but was never “called up”). P.J. Higgins, who had spent time with the Reds as the backup catcher when Jose Trevino was out, was outrighted to Louisville.
Will Banfield has played in seven big league games with Cincinnati. They all came in 2025 and are his only experience in Major League Baseball. Over those seven games he went 1-10 with six strikeouts.
This season Banfield has been in Triple-A with Louisville for the entire season. The 26-year-old has played in 50 games and is hitting .281/.337/.439 with nine doubles and six home runs. This has been his best season in the minor leagues of his career. Only one other time in his career has his OPS been in the .700’s and it came three years ago when he was in Double-A with the Marlins organization. Banfield’s batting average and on-base percentage are both sitting at what would easily be career bests, while his slugging percentage would be the second best of his career.
You can see the career stats for Will Banfield here.
The question is why this move was made? It wouldn’t make sense to add a player to the 40-man roster and then immediately send them to Triple-A unless the only other option was to grant them free agency. Banfield almost assuredly had something in his contract that if he was not added to the roster by a certain date that he could opt out and become a free agent. Cincinnati decided that he was worth keeping in the organization and made the move.
P.J. Higgins has been removed from the 40-man roster and outrighted to the minor leagues. As a player who has been outrighted in the past he will have the option to accept his assignment to the minor leagues by the Reds or to become a free agent and see what else could be out there for him.
Pierce Johnson hasn’t pitched in a little over three weeks. He’s been on the injured list since May 30th with right elbow inflammation. He last pitched on May 26th. The 35-year-old has been good for Cincinnati this season, posting a 3.27 ERA in his 24 outings from the Reds bullpen.