The Cincinnati Reds lost a handful of catchers to free agency between Double-A, Triple-A, and the big leagues after the 2024 season ended. That left them with just one catcher on the 40-man roster – Tyler Stephenson – and the need to fill out the upper levels of the minor leagues with catchers to provide depth, too. Their first move down that road was signing Alex Jackson to a minor league deal right after minor league free agency began. They’ve added to that by signing Will Bandfield, too. He also has gotten a minor league deal.
The 25-year-old was a 2nd round pick of the Miami Marlins back in 2018 out of Brookwood High School. He’s worked his way up through their farm system since then. In 2023 he spent his full season in Double-A Pensacola and had his best season in the minor leagues as he hit 23 home runs to go along with a .258/.302/.472 line.
This past year saw him spend his entire year in Triple-A with Jacksonville. The power didn’t come to Triple-A with him as he hit .247/.297/.379 with nine home runs in 371 plate appearances. That came along with 24 walks and 105 strikeouts. Throughout his career he’s had a lower walk rate and plenty of strikeouts.
If we want to try and find where he could be helpful at the plate, it may be against left-handed pitching. In 2024 he hit .306/.330/.482 against them in Triple-A. The year before his splits were a bit more even, with there being a 31 point advantage for him when he was facing right-handed pitchers.
Behind the plate is where he stands out the most. He’s a good receiver and has some athleticism to go along with a strong arm. This past season with Jacksonville his average pop time to second base was 1.95. That’s considered above-average and was better than any of the Reds catchers in 2024.
Cincinnati is almost certainly going to sign a few more catchers this offseason. They will hopefully find someone to be more of a proven backup at the highest level, whether that’s via a free agent signing or a trade acquisition. But the signing of Banfield and Jackson give them some depth – much like the signing of Austin Wynns did a year ago.
You can see the career stats for Will Banfield here.
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