DONE DEAL: Reds Officially Said It Has Landed Another Top Experience Star Player

Justus Sheffield, a left-handed pitcher, has inked a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds. Sheffield pitched in five major league seasons, the most recent of which was in 2022 with the Seattle Mariners.

In 2024, Justus Sheffield has not made a pitch. He was at Triple-A with both Seattle and Atlanta in the 2023 season. While with Atlanta, he also made one appearance in Double-A on a rehab assignment. He pitched in Tacoma early in 2023, giving up 16 hits and 11 walks in 8.1 innings pitched, and striking out just four hitters. His ERA was 14.04 in that time. At the end of April, Seattle released him.

He signed with Atlanta a week later, and he participated in extended spring training for the first month. He was assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett on June 9. Although he pitched better there than he did in Tacoma, the outcomes were not favorable; rather, he pitched better. While with the Stripers, he appeared in two relief roles in addition to 11 starts. With 56 strikeouts, 34 walks, seven home runs, and 57 hits allowed in 54.1 innings, he recorded a 6.63 ERA. After that year, he was free to sign with any team.

The team in Atlanta altered some of his pitch use when he signed with them last season. Atlanta asked him to toss up to 8.0% of 4-seam fastballs, which is still a rather small percentage. Additionally, they significantly reduced his 2-seam fastball rate, which went from 43.7% with Seattle to 27.3%. Usage of the slider decreased to 48.0% from 54.3%. In terms of use, the changeup witnessed significant movement. In the month he spent in Tacoma, he made a change 0.5% of the time with Seattle. During his four months with Atlanta in the minor levels, he completed 17.0% of his throws. It’s interesting to note that after joining Gwinnett, his fastball velocity (on both the 2- and 4-seamers) decreased by 1.6 mph.

As previously said, after joining a new organization, the outcomes improved, although they were still rather low. His failure to consistently deliver pitches for strikes was more of an issue than the actual quality of the pitches themselves. His 2-seamer and change-up proved to be more effective against opponents than his 4-seamer and slider. If he can throw his 4-seamer more often for strikes—it was just 46.8% of the time last season after entering Atlanta’s farm system—it would be advantageous to switch to becoming more of a 2-pitch guy with only those two offerings.

Sheffield has been allocated to the complicated level Reds out at Goodyear by the Reds. Since he hasn’t appeared in any games this season, this is probably simply a preparation for when he gets what is essentially a spring training ramp up and joins an upper-level team.