Brandon Williamson was born in Fairmont, Minnesota, which is roughly a two hour drive south of Target Field in Minneapolis. He went to Martin County West High School just down I-90 in Sherburn, and to date registers as the lone player from that program to ever crack the big leagues.
He’ll be on the mound in his home state on Friday evening as the Cincinnati Reds begin a three-game weekend series against the Minnesota Twins, and he’s expecting a big, big crowd of local folk in the stands to cheer him
on. That’s pretty damn special, and hopefully he’ll dazzle them the way he dazzled the crowd in Miami on April 6th when he fired 6.2 IP of 3 H, 0 ER, 4 K, BB ball across 93 pitches.
(That’s the hope since in his other two starts in 2026 he’s combined for 9 ER in 8.2 IP with 8 walks against just 6 punchouts.)
The Reds as a whole enter the series somewhat sideways. They just split a 6 game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants, respectively, and have gone just 3-5 in their last 8 games overall. They did take 2 of 3 against the Giants, though yesterday’s series finale saw them tally just one (1) hit – and that came from PJ Higgins, who you usually don’t even want to be playing.
They also finished the game with something of a bluff-brawl against San Francisco, so we’ll see if that had any residual charge-up for them when they face the Twins.
The Twins, meanwhile, are rolling. They’re 11-8 like the Reds (and sit atop the AL Central), but they’ve won 8 of their last 10 against some class competition in Detroit, Toronto, and Boston. They’re also lined up to send ace Joe Ryan to the mound for tonight’s series opener, so Cincinnati’s offense has a lot on its table from the get-go.
Speaking of Cincinnati’s offense, their 64 runs scored on the season ranks 3rd worst in the majors. Their collective 77 wRC+ is worsted only by the Chicago White Sox. Somehow, their .333 slugging percentage is 3rd worst in the game despite them having two players – Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz – ranking among the Top 7 (and ties) in homers across the entire league.
TJ Friedl’s .154 slugging percentage is the worst among 188 qualified big leaguers, to date. Of the 277 players who’ve logged at least 40 PA so far this season, Ke’Bryan Hayes owns a spectacularly awful -44 wRC+ that’s far and away the worst (with San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey second worst at -9). Cincinnati’s outfield production as a whole has amounted to just a 39 wRC+, a mark that’s tied with the Giants for the worst overall unit in the game.
So, there’s a lot of improving that needs to happen, and it needs to happen fast.
They’ll get their next chance tonight at 8:10 PM ET in Minneapolis.
