The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Brandon Leibrandt from Triple-A Louisville. Right-hander Casey Kelly has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Cincinnati’s pitching staff has been quite banged up of late. Coming into August, they already had Graham Ashcraft, Brandon Williamson, Brent Suter, Ian Gibaut and Tejay Antone on the injured list. Since the month has started, Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Christian Roa have been added to the pile.
The club has already made a few transactions to bolster the pitching staff in recent days, including selecting Kelly. The 34-year-old had been pitching for the LG Twins of the KBO but got released when that club signed Elieser Hernández. That ended an almost six-year relationship, as Kelly had signed with the Twins going into 2019. He had a 3.25 ERA in that time, tossing just under 1,000 innings, but that ERA jumped to 4.51 this year and the Twins let him go.
He landed a minor league deal with the Reds in early August and made two Triple-A starts, allowing four earned runs in eight innings. He got called up to the majors a few days ago and logged 5 1/3 innings over two relief appearances, allowing three earned runs in that time.
The Reds needed six pitchers to get through last night’s game, including Kelly, and have decided to get a fresh arm into the mix. With the trade deadline now passed, Kelly will be placed on waivers in the coming days. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.
Taking his spot is the 31-year-old Leibrandt. He has a small amount of major league experience, having tossed nine innings for the Marlins in the shortened 2020 season. Since then, he has bounced around to various minor league and indy ball clubs.
He started 2024 with the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League, tossing 19 1/3 innings over four starts with a tiny ERA of 0.93. That got him a minor league deal with the Reds in May and he has been with Louisville since then. He has logged 72 2/3 innings over 15 starts there with a 4.46 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.
Given the club’s aforementioned challenges with the pitching staff, they may call upon Leibrandt to absorb some innings at some point. He still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, so the club will be able to retain him for a long time. But since they have been rotating guys on and off the roster lately, it’s entirely possible that it will be a short stint for Leibrandt, like it was for Kelly.
Impressive Kelly is still kicking around and made a 2024 return to the big leagues. Resilience is a heck of a trait.
Insanity
I loved Brandon Leibrandt’s Dad. No one could change pace on pitches better than Charlie Leibrandt.
If he is half the pitcher his dad was, he’ll be better than most of these guys.
He is nowhere close to as good as his dad. That being said, he is back in the majors for the first time since the season that shouldn’t have happened in 2020. That’s a lot better than most pro players ever get.
Casey clears waivers and finished the season with his dad in Louisville.Where the hell is Joey Votto now that the Reds can give him an adios tour? Neither Dominic Smith or Votto can help the Reds now, but at least Joey gives fans a reason to come out to the ballpark. Another big FAN opportunity wasted, by bothsides
Votto doesn’t need to be on active roster for reds to give him a day
I feel Votto would be an excellent coach. Hopefully Cincinnati would consider bringing him along in that capacity.
Ayy Leibrandt’s getting another shot too. Nice.