There was a very interesting move listed on the Cincinnati Reds transaction list today. The Cincinnati Reds have released outfielder Rob Refsnyder. The outfielder and Major League veteran was in Triple-A with the Reds almost the entire season. He played one game to begin the year with Reno – the Triple-A affiliate of the Diamondbacks, before being traded to Cincinnati.
Players are released throughout the year, so when it does happen it’s not usually a surprise. What makes this particular move a surprise is that Rob Refsnyder was hitting .315/.377/.500 for the Louisville Bats this season. August was by far the worst month he’s had this season. That tells you how good he’s been, too, since he was hitting .286/.337/.429 in 21 games during the month.
There’s a chance that he requested a release so he could have an opportunity to sign on somewhere else and get a chance in the big leagues. This kind of situation does happen at times – Ryan Lavarnway is a good example of this happening earlier this year. If the Reds weren’t going to call him up in September, perhaps he felt he could get that chance somewhere else given how he’s performed in Triple-A this season. This is purely speculation, though. But it’s all that makes sense at this point for the move.