Carson Spiers has appaeared in 29 games for the Cincinnati Reds across the last three seasons, pitching to a 5.69 ERA (79 ERA+) and 5.28 FIP across 117.0 IP. He’s been versatile – 14 of his outings have been starts, and he’s managed to finish 6 games in that time – and that’s been valuable enough to the club to offset his overall numbers being worse than you’d like to see.
That didn’t stop the Reds from designating Spiers for assignment back on November 18th as the deadline to add players to the 40-man
roster prior to the upcoming Rule 5 Draft approached, however. Those spots were needed for younger prospects who could get plucked out of the farm system altogether. Still, the Reds felt there was enough left in the tank with Spiers that they wanted to keep him around the organization, and on Monday they brought him back on a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.
So said the MLB.com transaction ledger.
Spiers, 28, spent the bulk of the 2025 season on the 60-day IL with a shoulder impingement, an aspect to his year (and series of transactions) that likely helped leave him unclaimed on waivers when he was DFA’d. Now, he’ll get to continue working his way back to being big league caliber within the only organization he’s ever known since being signed by the Reds as an undrafted free agent after his college career at Clemson University wrapped in 2020.
