The Braves have signed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley to a minor league contract, as first indicated on the MLB.com transaction log. There’s no invitation to major league camp on the righty’s deal.
The 30-year-old Reid-Foley was a second-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2014 and ranked as a well-regarded pitching prospect for a couple years early in his pro career. He’s shown huge swing-and-miss ability but also persistent command troubles — all amid ongoing injury problems. Most notably, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, which wiped out more than a calendar year. Reid-Foley also had multiple stints on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement in 2024.
In 131 2/3 innings at the major league level, Reid-Foley has posted a 4.10 earned run average while punching out 25.6% of his opponents. His strikeout numbers spiked in 2023-24, in particular, as he fanned nearly one-third of his opponents (backed by a 13.5% swinging-strike rate) — albeit in a small sample of 29 1/3 innings. His workload during those two seasons was cut short by that Tommy John rehab and the subsequent shoulder impingement.
Reid-Foley split the 2025 season between the D-backs and Mets organizations, pitching exactly 14 innings for each club’s Triple-A affiliate. He struggled considerably. In last year’s 28 frames, Reid-Foley was roughed up for a 7.07 ERA thanks to a glut of both home runs and walks.
Command has long been an issue for Reid-Foley. Even as he’s piled up big strikeout totals and rates in prior seasons, he’s struggled to keep runners off base due to his lack of precision. The 6’3″, 230-pound righty has walked a bloated 14.2% of his major league opponents and had similar struggles in parts of six seasons at Triple-A, where his career 13.7% walk rate is only marginally better than his major league rate.
With Atlanta, Reid-Foley doesn’t have a clear path to the majors — and wouldn’t even if he had a big league invite on his deal — given the Braves’ crowded, very veteran bullpen. He’ll be slated to open the season with Triple-A Gwinnett and could emerge as an option later in the year if the Braves incur injuries in the majors and/or if he can bounce back from last year’s dismal Triple-A results.
Yes!
Yeah. Makes sense if you don’t include a spring training invite on those kind of deals
Any relation to Matt Foley?
Or Axel?
Or Mick?
@ Buck—They both live in a van down by the river
😂
In the rare instances that this guy has been healthy over the past few years, he’s shown some real promise as a reliever. Nice signing.
AA coming for his guys.
The article fails to mention that he is pitching very well in Mexico this winter — 0.60 ERA, 4 hits in 15 innings, 5 walks to 18 strikeouts.
Yeah, I mean, why in the world would you want to include his most recent pitching performances!?! lol…
Thank you for this information. Greatly appreciated. I’m not sure exactly why this wasn’t mentioned in the article, especially since he’s coming off a down year. With his most recent success, it’s possible he has made some minor adjustments, and potentially the Braves could be getting a useful piece to add to their bullpen whenever they get bit from the inevitable injury bug.
It’s already started on their position players, so I am sure it is only a matter of time…
How many former Anthopolous Blue Jays can you name that played for his now Braves?