The Cincinnati Reds will welcome back lefty Brandon Williamson to their starting rotation beginning on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres. The 28 year old – who missed all of the 2025 season following Tommy John surgery that he needed late in 2024 – has been sidelined since an April 29th start against the Colorado Rockies, but his shoulder is finally good enough to return and eat some innings down the stretch for the Reds.
There will be no major shakeup to the starting rotation – at least, not
in the form of a demotion or move to the bullpen. Rather, it’s now officially the time the Reds are going to begin to actively reduce the workload on ace Chase Burns, meaning the 100 pitch grind he chucked in yesterday’s big win over the Chicago Cubs might well be his final ‘full’ start of the year.
That brought him to 145.1 IP on the season.
Manager Terry Francona revealed the framework of the plan to the beats earlier on Monday afternoon prior to the series opener in GABP against San Diego. Charlie Goldsmith was on the scene to help relay things, with Tito still being coy on exactly how many pitches/innings Burns will be allowed to go given then competitive advantage that would forfeit. What we do know, though, is that Williamson will piggyback Burns’ next start on Monday given that Thursday is a day-off.
That start will come against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rosters officially expand tomorrow, so adding Williamson won’t be as difficult as it otherwise would be. Williamson is on the 60-day IL, however, so a 40-man move will need to be made. Given that both Spencer Steer and Michael Toglia reside on the 10-day IL and are both done for the season, though, that should be merely a procedural swap.
