The Cincinnati Reds continued their roster revamp on Sunday morning, activating catcher Jose Trevino off the injured list after he’d been out of action at the big league level since back on April 4th.
Trevino, 33, has logged just 12 PA so far this season as a back issue has been dogging him since the first week of the season. To date, he’s just 1 for 11 with a walk and 3 K, though last year provided evidence that his value comes in ways much more nuanced that just with the bat. He’s an accomplished
defender and manager of the pitching staff, and hopefully getting him back in the mix will help solidify a starting rotation that’s had some serious bumps through the first month of the season.
PJ Higgins was optioned back to AAA Louisville to make room on the roster, as the Reds relayed – with a sidenote that pitcher Nick Lodolo was sent out to begin his own rehab assignment.
Trevino notably caught Brady Singer more often than not during the 2025 season, starting 22 of the 32 games in which the former Kansas City Royal righty started. In those 22 games, Singer allowed opposing hitters just a .701 OPS, whereas he yielded an .863 OPS ing the 6 games started by Tyler Stephenson. His 3.58 ERA and 2.74 K/BB were also notably better when pitching to Trevino than when he pitched to Ty Steves (6.14 ERA, 1.42 K/BB).
It was less pronounced with Andrew Abbott, who was excellent regardless last year, but the southpaw did yield a lower OPS to opposing batters in the 10 games he threw to Trevino (.602) than he did when pitching to Stephenson 18 times (.668).
That’s not to say that having Trevino back will completely solve all issues those two starters have faced so far in 2026, but the hope is that it sure won’t hurt to have his game-calling back in the mix.
Trevino will be right back in action on Sunday, as he’s in the starting lineup slated to catch righty Rhett Lowder for the second time this year. In their first outing together, Lowder fired 6.0 IP of scoreless ball against the Texas Rangers back on April 4th.
