Cincinnati Reds re-signed their former excellent pitchers who were out of contract as Free Agency
The Cincinnati Reds have re-signed right-handed pitcher Brett Kennedy. The right-handed pitcher appeared in five games for Cincinnati in the 2023 season, making two starts and coming out of the bullpen three times. Now he’ll get another chance to fill some potential innings with the Reds in 2024 after re-signing with the club on a minor league deal.
Brett Kennedy hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2018 when he made six starts for the San Diego Padres. When the 2023 season began he wasn’t even pitching in affiliated baseball, instead he was making starts for the Long Island Ducks. After three starts, though, he signed a minor league deal with the Reds and was sent to join the Louisville Bats.
After a month-and-a-half of 3.71 ERA baseball in Triple-A, the Reds called him up for a spot start on the 4th of July against the Washington Nationals. He would pick up the win, throwing 5.0 innings and giving up four runs in that outing before returning to Triple-A. Five weeks later he was back in the big leagues with the Reds and made four more appearances. The first two of those outings saw him fire off 7.0 innings between a 2-inning outing in Pittsburgh and a 5-inning start against Toronto. The next two outings didn’t go as well as he wound up allowing nine runs in a combined 6.0 innings out of the bullpen to Arizona and Chicago.
He was sent back to Triple-A after that and his struggles came with him as he allowed 17 runs in 14.2 innings in his final four games of the season for the Bats. You can see his career stats here.
The sample size was limited in the big leagues, but he pitched well against right-handed hitters as he held them to a .643 OPS. Left-handed hitters, though, touched him up in a big way. They hit .324/.405/.618 against him and seven of their 11 hits went for extra bases. They also walked twice as often as they struck out against him. In the minors in 2023 he held righties to a .778 OPS, while lefties had an .804 OPS against him.
Kennedy is likely to provide depth from Triple-A, giving the Reds options to look at if they need to find a starting pitcher from the minors for a spot start or if injuries pile up down the line.
