The Reds announced that right-hander Lyon Richardson has been sent outright to Triple-A Louisville. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last month when Cincinnati acquired outfielder Dane Myers from the Marlins.
Richardson, 26 this month, was a second-round pick of the Reds back in 2018. Cincinnati added him to the 40-man roster in November of 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He spent the past three years as an up-and-down depth arm for the Reds, getting shuttled between Cincinnati and Louisville.
Over those three seasons, he tossed 55 innings in the majors, allowing 6.05 earned runs per nine. He averaged above 95 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a slider, curveball and changeup. His 51.1% ground ball rate was good but his 16.7% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate were both well off league average. He also tossed 199 2/3 Triple-A innings in that span with a 4.19 ERA. His 12.7% walk rate was still rough but he did punch out 26% of batters faced.
He was kept in a relief role in 2025, after mostly working as a starter in prior years. The Triple-A results were decent, as he tossed 32 innings with a 4.22 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate. It didn’t really translate to the majors, however, with a 17.4% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate in the show.
He exhausted his final option year in 2025, pushing him to the fringe of the roster. The Reds nudged him off December 27th. DFA limbo is normally capped at a week but the rules are different around the holidays, so Richardson spent close to two weeks in a liminal space but now has clarity on his situation. This is his first career outright and he does not have three years of big league service time. That means he does not have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the Reds in a non-roster capacity and try to earn his way back to the big leagues.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images