Sixteen thoughts (and 4,300 words) on the Reds' bullpen

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — If the Cincinnati Reds need it, Tony Santillan is ready to pitch in 81 games again this season. He ranked second in MLB in appearances last year.

“Ninety-five percent of the times, I felt really good,” Santillan said. “When I said I was good to get the ball, I genuinely meant that.”

The good news for Santillan’s right arm is that after the Reds prioritized building up more middle relief depth, he might not need to pitch as much in 2026.

“Hopefully if things all go well, everyone gets to share the love,” Santillan said. “Everyone is around the same workload and we’re all feeling fresh come October baseball. Then, we go on a run and win the whole thing. Regardless, I had a good offseason. I’ll be ready.”

Last year, roles at the back of the Reds’ bullpen were about as set as they were for any team in baseball. Graham Ashcraft typically pitched the seventh inning when the Reds had the lead, Santillan got the eighth and Emilio Pagán was the closer.

Do the Reds plan to go with the 7-8-9 approach again this season?

“The idea is that on certain days, that might be really good,” Terry Francona said. “You can’t do it every day. The more reliable guys you have, the better. That way you don’t overwork guys or underwork guys. You give yourself a chance to win when you’re down one or two. When you have a select group of guys, you pay the price when you chase and don’t win.”

Lefties Caleb Ferguson and Brock Burke have high-leverage experience and the ability to match up in specific situations. Pierce Johnson was the Reds’ second-biggest relief pitcher addition in free agency over the last decade, and he’s a candidate for some bigger innings. Connor Phillips, Luis Mey, Zach Maxwell and Lyon Richardson all have the talent to grow into a high-leverage role, and they each did get that opportunity and had flashes of success in 2025.

“You look at what we have and you have some guys who have pitched at the back end of games and can go multiple innings,” Derek Johnson said. “There’s some versatility. We have left-handers who can help us out and actually a couple of them are pretty good against right-handed hitters as well. There are a lot of moving parts, but there are a lot of possibilities.”

2. With everything going on during a hectic final week of the regular season last year, there was a story that flew under the radar: Santillan’s redemption against Cubs All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Santillan was in for the save with the Reds leading 1-0 in the ninth inning over the Cubs. Santillan walked two batters. With two outs, PCA stepped up to the plate.

“I’ve been waiting for that at-bat for a while,” Santillan said. “I got to face PCA. I’ve been waiting for a while for that at-bat. Since May. I waited a long time for that at-bat. I was kind of upset that I walked (Michael) Busch. But at the same time, once I saw Pete step in there, I was happy, I guess. It’s weird. I was happy to get my chance.”

Back in May, Santillan allowed a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning to Crow-Armstrong, who showed some astonishing power as he pulled a towering high fly ball over the foul pole. It was a viral highlight that accelerated Crow-Armstrong’s star-turn. He celebrated the homer by flipping his bat high in the air, turning to the dugout, yelling out, pounding his chest and then flexing as he rounded the bases. You won’t see a much bigger celebration on a baseball field all year.

“I was tipping my pitches,” Santillan said. “That’s all on me.”

They met again in late September. Santillan struck him out to end the game.

“I had been waiting for that at-bat for a while now,” Santillan said. “I finally got it, and I did what I knew I could do.”

Santillan wants the smoke, embraces the moment and has the stuff to overpower any hitter in the game.

3. Every time I spoke with Santillan last season — a year where he was tied for third in MLB in relief pitcher WAR — he spoke about how he wasn’t yet where he wanted to be. Privately, coaches would tell him, “You know you’re really good right?” Santillan would keep tinkering, and keep improving.

“I’ve always been that way,” Santillan said. “I’m very picky. I wouldn’t say I like to be perfect because that’s what gets me in trouble. I’m very hard to satisfy. There’s always something I’m trying to reach. For me, it’s a never ending cycle. I do something good, but then I find something to pick at.”

The mindset was the key to his journey from a pitcher who got DFAd at the end of the 2023 season and went unclaimed on waivers to one of the best relievers in MLB in 2025.

“It meant a lot to me to prove that — I’ve said it several times — when I’m healthy I believe I’m one of the best relievers out there,” Santillan said. “It was nice to show that durability and put some numbers and performances behind that statement. I’m always trying to be better. That’s my way of always staying in that mindset and competing against everyone else and with myself. That’s what separates me. That mental fight.”

On Thursday, Santillan threw his first live bullpen of the spring.

“I feel fresh,” Santillan said. “I’m in a good spot right now, where I want to be.”

4. Graham Ashcraft feels like he has been a reliever for a while even though he didn’t make the switch from the rotation to the bullpen until the final week of spring training last season.

“Having to pitch every day during the season makes it feel like it’s a lot longer than it really is,” Ashcraft said. “I’m picking up and jumping off where we left off last year.”

This spring, he’s working on being even more refined with his slider.

The bullpen fit Ashcraft well and allowed him to pitch to his strengths.

“A lot of soft contact,” Ashcraft said. “I’ve got to keep pounding the zone like I was last year and let stuff happen. I’m a ground ball guy. I’ll get punch outs when I need to, but a lot of my outs come from the ground. I’ve got to induce weak contact when I can and let the rest take care of itself. Stay after them. Don’t back down. You have to go in there and shut the door.”

He says that based on conversations he has had, the Reds like him in that later inning role that he was in last year.

“I see myself staying there,” Ashcraft said. “You never know how things can go. Things can change.”

5. On Thursday, TJ Friedl was asked who has stood out to him in camp.

“Yesterday, Brock Burke ripped off three breaking balls for strikes low and away,” Friedl said. “That’s a problem. The lefty bullpen guys that we have are incredible. The guys that we’ve added are really, really good.”

6. Pagán, Santillan and Ashcraft have significant experience in high-leverage roles. Johnson, Burke and Caleb Ferguson give the Reds a good combination of durability and versatility.

The most interesting group of pitchers in the bullpen mix are the rookies competing for spots: Connor Phillips (who has a leg up after an incredible September last year), Zach Maxwell, Luis Mey and Lyon Richardson.

Santillan said, “What Phillips did at the end was unbelievable to watch. Mey showed glimpses of how dominant he can be. Just make some adjustments and pound the zone a bit more — he knows it. He had electric stuff. Then we’ve got Maxwell. The young guys are nasty. We’ve got a good group with a lot of experience. You learn from everybody.”

The rookies might have the best pure stuff in this entire group of relievers. They’re definitely the hardest throwers. If any of them really clicks this year, because you see young relievers rise all the way up the bullpen depth chart very quickly, one of them could end up in a high-leverage role pretty quickly.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who’s going to be up there,” Ashcraft said. “All of those guys have great stuff. They showed really good glimpses last year of being people who will help this team win games. It’ll be interesting to see who comes back with us. They’re the types of guys who can throw later in the games. It’s really exciting. We have a lot of depth. We have a lot of strengths that set us up well for the season.”

Connor Phillips effectively had a high-leverage role for the Reds down the stretch last year. Pagán has said the Reds wouldn’t have made the playoffs without him. Phillips, 24 years old, looked the part and looked as confident as you could be.

“He threw strikes last year and was able to get his fastball and slider in the zone,” assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy said. “He has two really, really good pitches. He’s also much better with his work and his throwing program. Any time you add an arm like that to the bullpen, it makes you deeper.”

When asked about Phillips’ chances to make the team, Francona said, ““You don’t give guys jobs,” Francona said. “But we certainly hope, because what he did really made our bullpen different. He was a big part of that.”

7. Pagán, Santillan, Ashcraft, Ferguson, Burke and Johnson all feel like locks to make the team, and Phillips is in a good spot.

Unless someone gets hurt — always a possibility in spring training — that leaves one spot left for Maxwell, Mey, Richardson, Sam Moll (the lefty in this group), Yunior Marte, Tejay Antone and a few other non-roster invites.

It should be a pretty typical spring training bullpen battle as the Reds will evaluate how these guys look, what they’re working on and how they fit the team. If an unexpected injury does pop up, the Reds have good depth here and the next man would be up.

8. Relief pitching prospect Joel Valdez — a tall and lean 25-year-old lefty who posted a 1.38 ERA in Double-A last year in 45 ⅔ innings with 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings — is expected to be out for a while with a shoulder injury, Francona said.

9. Sam Moll, the only left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster at the start of the offseason, didn’t think too much of it when the Reds added two more lefties during the winter. He knows the rookies are good, but he’s not doing the math and figuring out where he stands in the battle for a spot in the bullpen.

“I don’t really care to know. I’m just going to do my thing,” Moll said. “They can think what they’re thinking. I don’t even ask. I don’t care. Just do what I do. I’m relatively happy go lucky.”

Moll is out of minor league options. So if he doesn’t make the team, he’ll go on waivers.

Early in the offseason, before the Reds added Burke and Johnson, the Reds agreed to a “pre-tender” deal with Moll before the non-tender deadline. The contract reportedly guaranteed him $875,000.

“For me, it was mainly that I didn’t care what I get (financially),” Moll said. “I know that if I can return to what I am, everything is going to work out.”

It’s not an exaggeration to say that when he’s on, Moll has truly been one of the best left-handed pitchers in the sport against elite left-handed hitters. He was on for a stretch over the summer last year and played a significant role in the bullpen for about a month. It didn’t last, and Moll ended the year in Triple-A.

“The main issue for me was in-zone percentage with fastballs,” Moll said. “That led to getting behind hitters. That’s the focus moving forward. Getting back to attacking the zone. You look at those numbers and you won’t help yourself when you’re behind in the count.”

Now, he’s throwing his sinker more, working a lot on his changeup as a tool to use against right-handed hitters and putting an emphasis on throwing strikes.

10. While the spring competition will likely determine the winner of the bullpen battle, Zach Maxwell was the one who ended the year on the Reds’ big league roster. He had some terrific outings, including a five strikeout performance in his debut and a huge, clutch scoreless seventh inning in a close win at San Diego.

“He has the carry four-seam,” Matt Tracy said. “Overpowering stuff will be really effective in that short burst bullpen role. It’s about how consistent can we be and how much we can control the count. They’re each their own unique person. We encourage them to be themself and express that. Any time you see someone 6’7, 300 pounds out there, it brings its own presence.”

“Big Sugar” said that he’s working on stabilization this spring.

“How slow (down the mound) can I be?” Maxwell said. “I don’t have to rush to get it going. How do I get down the mound stable?”

When he’s throwing strikes, he has the stuff to get great hitters out.

“They put me out there (in big games last year) because they know what I can do and I know what I can do,” Maxwell said. “I’m confident.”

11. The most electric pitch in the entire Reds’ bullpen could be Luis Mey’s sinker, which has hit 103 mph with crazy movement.

“The stuff is there,” Tracy said. “He can compete at this level and be elite. The consistency is what we’re looking for.”

This year, Mey wants to do a better job of learning lessons from the veterans in the Reds’ bullpen.

He can be better with his every day work, throwing program and the way he uses his bullpen sessions between appearances.

“The message is I’ve got to be attached to (the veteran pitchers on the team),” Mey said. “Ask them how they manage themselves in certain situations. I know I’m new. Pagán has been a closer. Santillan is in the eighth inning. I have to learn from them how to control myself in high-leverage situations.”

Mey was a high-leverage reliever for the Reds at times last May, and he was again in August. He had very good games and games where his command got away from him (he finished the season with a poor walk rate in a small sample size).

“Stay focused,” Mey said. “Calm down. I’m the one with the ball. With the stuff I have, they’re not going to do anything. On the mound, I’ve got to let them know that they’re not going to be able to do anything even if they know what’s coming”

12. Out of the entire group of rookie relievers, no one pitched in more games than Lyon Richardson (34 appearances) or in more high-leverage games than this 25-year-old with good velocity and a standout changeup.

“People forget how big Lyon was for us in May and June,” Pagán said. “He was eating a lot of innings and pitched his way into leverage. Lyon is just now learning the type of pitcher he needs to be. His changeup is so good. He throws really hard, so for a long time he thought he needed to throw his fastball a ton.”

Pagán says that Richardson can take a big step by leaning more into his changeup, which Richardson used as his primary pitch and threw 40% of the time last year.

“The guy we push him to watch in the bullpen is (former Yankee and Tiger) Tommy Kahnle,” Pagán said. “He threw 100 (mph), but he throws nothing but changeups because it’s that good. Lyon can use his fastball more than Tommy does. But it’s understanding what makes you elite is X — for Lyon that’s the changeup. I think he’s going to be a really good big league pitcher for a long time.”

The story of Richardson’s season was that he pitched his way into leverage, but then he pitched a lot for a team without a ton of middle relief depth and got a bit worn down. Through his first 20 appearances, he had a 1.85 ERA. After that, he had a 9.45 ERA and spent most of the second half of the season in Triple-A.

“I made improvements and I had some failures, which always happens,” Richardson said. “Just be consistent. Consistency is key. I have the ability to do it. Can I do it over a long period of time? I have the stuff. I just have to be a bit more precise and the sequencing has to be better.”

Since Richardson has used all three of his option years, he’s out of options and can’t be sent back and forth from MLB to Triple-A without going on waivers. Since your depth ideally has those options that you can use when you need a new arm to come up and cover innings, Richardson being out of options probably hurt where he stood during the offseason.

The Reds ended up designating him for assignment. The good news for the Reds was that he cleared waivers — likely because a team looking to pick him up to bolster their depth would probably also want a pitcher with options in that position.

Richardson didn’t make much of it when he got DFAd.

“I was on vacation,” Richardson said. I didn’t even pay attention to it. It is what it is. The goal is to put myself in a spot to compete for a spot. I’m right here with everyone else still. Whatever happens happens. We’ll see.”

13. Richardson was a part of one of the wildest stories of the 2025 Reds season. The Bristol Speedway Classic was postponed in the first inning due to rain. Since the Reds and Braves had both burned their starting pitchers on the first night and since the game never should have begun anyway on Saturday night, MLB made an exception and allowed each team to add a pitcher onto their roster when play resumed on Sunday. The Braves pitcher was a close drive away.

Having just been optioned to Triple-A, Richardson was in Cincinnati at the time (the end of the night on Saturday). He had to make it to Bristol, Tennessee, (a six hour drive) on Sunday morning. There obviously wasn’t a flight from Cincinnati to Bristol.

So the Reds wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in a spotlight game for the league, commissioner Rob Manfred sent his private plane to pick Richardson up and fly him from Cincinnati to Bristol.

“That was the only way without Ubering, which wasn’t possible,” Richardson said. “They told me I was flying out in the morning. It was a weird day. I’ve had weirder.”

Because of the state of the Reds’ pitching staff, the Reds wouldn’t have been able to get through the game without him. Richardson threw two shutout innings.

14. The pandemic canceling the 2020 Minor League season was the “best thing to happen” to non-roster invite Hagen Danner, who made one big league appearance in 2023 and pitched in Triple-A with the Mariners organization last season.

Out of high school, Danner was drafted by the Blue Jays as a catcher. At the end of the 2019 season, frustrated with his strikeout rate, Danner decided to make the switch and become a pitcher and went to the Blue Jays with the idea.

“They were super cool with it,” Danner said. “They were pumped when I told them because they probably wanted me to start pitching. COVID was almost the best thing for my career. I was able to have a year to figure everything out. I taught myself. I learned how to move better and throw harder.”

He’s a four-seam fastball and slider guy who hits 98 mph and uses his slider around 60% of the time. In his arsenal, he also has a two-seam fastball, two sliders, a kick changeup (a new pitch) and a curve.

15. Anthony Misiewicz — a non-roster invite who goes by the nickname “Miz” (he had it before Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski) — was a solid, consistent big leaguer between 2020 and 2022 while pitching with the Mariners. Misiewicz controlled his off-speed pitches well, got ahead in counts and pitched with “fire.”

He has bounced around since then, dealing with a lot of adversity. In 2023, while pitching for the Yankees, he was hit in the head by a 100 mph comebacker and was carted off the field. Misiewicz spent a day in the hospital, went on the IL with a concussion and missed the rest of the season.

“I’m thankful nothing happened internally or externally,” Misiewicz said. “I should have taken more time to go through it and rehab. But you want to go into the spring ready to go. It was a tough road to get back, and I jumped the gun a bit.”

Since then, he said that he has worn a bigger glove to help protect himself.

In 2025, he made five big league appearances with the Twins and posted a 3.82 ERA in 28 minor league games. He also missed time with a pectoral strain. On the mound, he uses the entire strike zone, pitches to contact and leans on a cutter-changeup combo.

16. BONUS: The depth starting pitchers in camp (thank you for making it this far).

Julian Aguiar hasn’t pitched in a real game since 2024. In his seven starts for the Reds during his rookie season — which ended with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery — Aguiar filled up the strike zone as confidently and as aggressively as you’ll see a rookie. Sometimes, like when he faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr., that led to Aguiar getting hit hard.

Aguiar, who was a top-20 prospect in the organization at the time, posted a 6.25 ERA in 2024. But there were good games in that mix, including a six-inning, two-run performance against the Pirates and a 6 ⅓ inning, three-run performance against the Twins.

“It was a big blessing, going out there and competing,” Aguiar said. “We talk about attacking the heart of the zone and competing. You’ve got to attack the strike zone.”

Aguiar missed the entire 2025 season after having Tommy John surgery. He’s full-go this spring and is scheduled to pitch two innings in the spring training opener on Saturday.

“My arm is live,” Aguiar said. “I’m ready to throw strikes and be competitive.”

He throws a four-seam fastball, a two-seamer, a new short slider, a sweeper and a changeup.

Darren McCaughan, who has 20 big league appearances and six starts under his belt, believes that he’ll be building up as a starter this spring. The non-roster invitee is ready for whatever the team decides.

McCaughan’s focus heading into the 2025 season was a cutter. That new pitch impressed the Twins, and he played a role in their bullpen in April. But he was limited to three appearances before the Twins needed a fresh arm and he was DFAd. In Triple-A last year, he made 12 starts and 26 total appearances. He throws a four-seam, two-seam, cutter, sweeper, changeup and curve. He’s a kitchen sink pitcher who “picks at the holes” that he sees in a hitter’s scouting report. A decade ago, he played with TJ Friedl on the USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team

Carson Spiers, a part of last year’s Opening Day rotation, is finding the positive as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. He gets to spend more time with his six-week-old daughter, Bradley.

“That makes being out here in Arizona for the entire year so much more special,” Spiers said. “That makes not being a part of a team a bit easier. I get to be dad.”

Spiers said that he doesn’t yet know exactly what his timeline to return is after having surgery lat summer.

“We’ll take it as steady as we should,” Spiers said. “My thought process is if I’m out of the Arizona complex by Aug. 1, that’s a win for me. If I’m pitching in (High-A) Dayton for a few extended outings (this year), that’s a win.”

Last spring, as he was competing for a roster spot that he went on to earn, he was already banged up.

“I always want the ball and want to compete,” Spiers said. “That’s who I am as a person. I was going through shoulder and biceps pain. I knew where I stood. I had a chance to break with the team. As a competitor, that’s what you’re looking for. I pitched through it. It got to a point where something was wrong.”

He was optioned to Triple-A in mid-April when Andrew Abbott returned from the IL, but Spiers was called back up later in the month when Nick Lodolo went on the paternity list and the Reds needed a spot starter. Spiers was scheduled to pitch in the Sunday game, but a short start on Saturday from Hunter Greene forced Spiers into action on Saturday. Spiers took one for the team, throwing 94 pitches in a grueling four inning appearance.

“I’ve been thrown in those situations since 2023,” Spiers said. “You do so much for your club by doing that. I want the ball as much as I can. That’s truly who I am. It’s special to take the ball any time and do whatever the club needs.”

It turned out that Spiers was really hurt, and he went on the IL the next day with a right shoulder injury. Spiers was supposed to return during the summer, but then his elbow blew out. At the end of the year, the Reds DFAd Spiers and took him off the 40-man roster and cleared waivers.

“I hope to prove that I can start again,” Spiers said.