The Cincinnati Reds have signed left-handed pitcher Drew Parrish to a minor league deal. The lefty spent the 2024 season in the Atlanta Braves organization, pitching in 27 games in Double-A and two more in Triple-A.
Originally an 8th round pick out of Florida State by the Kansas City Royals in 2019, Drew Parrish worked his way up through their farm system and pitched his way up to Triple-A but was never unable to break through into the big leagues. Following the 2023 season the Royals released him and when minor league free agency began in November he signed with Atlanta.
The first half of the season was solid for Parrish while pitching in Double-A with Mississippi. But he really put together a big second half. Starting on June 26 and running through the end of the season the left-handed pitcher threw 46.0 innings as he split time between the rotation and bullpen (where he was a multi-inning reliever) and posted a 2.15 ERA while walking nine batters and striking out 47. He held opponents to a .204/.247/.287 line during that time and gave up just six extra-base hits. Following the 2024 season he became a free agent.
The stuff doesn’t really jump out at you. His fastball works in the upper 80’s to low 90’s and he will top out around 93-94 MPH on his best days. He will also utilize a slider, change up, and a slow curveball (upper 60’s to low 70’s) in his arsenal.
Cincinnati, like just about every other team around the league, needs as much pitching depth as they can get. In the 2024 season the Reds used 31 pitchers and one position player – Luke Maile – to fill out their 1428.0 innings that they needed to get through the season. 10 pitchers, and then Luke Maile, didn’t even pitch in five games as the team cycled through their various options throughout the year. Parrish gives them another potential option to look at, especially if he can pitch like he did in the second half of 2024 when he was mostly coming out of the bullpen to cover a few innings.
You can see the career stats for Drew Parrish here.
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