The Reds have signed left-hander Brandon Leibrandt to a minor league deal, according to the transaction tracker on Leibrandt’s MLB.com player page.
Leibrandt, 31, was a sixth-round pick by the Phillies in the 2014 draft who made his way through the minor leagues with the club to reach Triple-A during the 2018 season, setting him up for a potential big league debut in 2019. Unfortunately, those plans were scuttled when the southpaw missed the entire campaign due to injury, prompting the Phillies to release him prior to the 2020 season. Leibrandt was picked up by the Marlins in July 2020 and made his big league debut the following month.
Leibrandt would go on to pitch nine innings for the Marlins during the shortened 2020 campaign across five appearances. His results were solid enough as he allowed just two runs in that time, but his peripherals told a different story. Leibrandt walked a whopping 19.4% of batters faced during his brief stint in the big leagues while striking out just 8.3%, leaving him with a lackluster 4.86 FIP during his time in the big leagues. He has not appeared in the major since.
The southpaw was outrighted off the club’s roster following the 2020 campaign but remained in the organization during the 2021 season, pitching at the Double- and Triple-A levels to a combined 5.68 ERA in 21 appearances, including 18 starts. Leibrandt remained in affiliated ball for the 2022 season on a minor league pact with the Cubs before heading to the independent Atlantic League to pitch for the High Point Rockers, with whom he’s remained since. In 80 innings with the Rockers, Leibrandt has impressed with a 2.70 ERA and a 23.8% strikeout rate, while walking just 8% of batters faced.
That performance has clearly intrigued the Reds, who are now bringing Leibrandt into the organizational fold as upper-level pitching depth. The club is fairly deep in upper-level pitching options on the rotation side of things with the likes of Connor Phillips and Lyon Richardson available for spot starts as needed, although it’s possible Leibrandt could offer the Reds a multi-inning arm from the left side out of the bullpen if his strong results in the Atlantic League can translate to affiliated ball.
Related to Charlie?
Charlie’s son…
Southpaw like his dad. Man, Charlie was definition of crafty junkballer lefty, slow n slower, just worked away frm hitters, had nice career.
That’s what I wondered. That’s cool
Is it sad that i remember Charlie pitching in the World Series with the Braves and then finishing his career with the Rangers
I remember Charlie all the way back to his Reds and Royals days. I was in my early teens then…
33 years ago. As old now as as 1958 was then. In 1958 Ted Williams led the AL in batting average. Holy cow, my kids see Ron Gant and David Justice as dated as Ted Williams was for me.
Simple look at his KwERA and it sits around 2.73 over 19.1 innings. Worse than his actual ERA but still pretty decent. I guess on a minors deal, it’s not terrible.
He looked promising for a while coming up through the Phillies organization before his career went off the rails. Maybe he’s a late career achiever lefty like his dad and Jamie Moyer.