Since the last update on minor league releases and moves to the injured list, there have been a lot more additions to both lists as minor league spring training enters it’s last week. Over the past week, four more players were released and six more players were placed onto the longer term injured lists.
Three of the minor league releases were a bit interesting in the sense that the players were not in big league camp but did get called up to play in a big league game during the spring. Right-handed pitchers John Murphy, Brock Bell, and Juan Polo were released along with outfielder Justice Thompson.
John Murphy pitched in two games with the Reds in big league camp this spring. He only recorded one out in each game. The 28-year-old was a free agent signing out of independent league baseball two years ago and has spent time pitching for Daytona, Dayton, and Louisville over the previous two seasons where he had a combined ERA of 3.42 in 102.2 innings, with most of that coming with the Dayton Dragons (86.1 innings). You can see his career stats here.
Brock Bell, like Murphy, was not in big league camp but got added to the roster to fill out the bullpen during the spring. He never pitched in a game but was on the roster for four different games. Bell was a 7th round pick of the Red Sox back in 2019 and was selected by Cincinnati in the minor league version of the Rule 5 draft in December of 2023. The now 27-year-old spent all of 2024 with Dayton and pitched in 35 games out of their bullpen, throwing 52.1 innings with a 4.82 ERA. You can see his career stats here.
Juan Polo pitched in the Kansas City Royals farm system in 2019. The next time he played was in 2024 when the Reds signed him in June and sent him to Arizona to pitch in the complex league. The righty only pitched in three games, throwing just 2.1 total innings in July before the season came to an end. You can see his career stats here.
Justice Thompson got into one game this spring with the big league club, going 0-1. He was selected in the 6th round out of North Carolina in the 2021 draft. Known for his athleticism and defense, he played for the ACL Reds, Daytona Tortugas, Dayton Dragons, and Chattanooga Lookouts over the past four seasons. Last year he was with the Lookouts for the full season. He struggled at the plate, hitting just .202. For his career he had hit .237/.338/.370 in 301 games. You can see his career stats here.
There were a lot of guys placed on either the 60-day injured list, which would allow them to return to the field this season if they can recover in time. Plenty of guys also landed on the full-season injured list, which will keep them out all year. At this point in time I do not have much information on what these guys are dealing with from an injury perspective, but hope to find out later this week. For that reason, I’m simply going to list those guys and which list they wound up on.
Injured List | Position | Details |
| Eddy Isturiz | OF | Full Season |
| Anyer Laureano | RHP | Full Season |
| Khristian Guevara | LHP | Full Season |
| Javi Rivera | RHP | Full Season |
| Shawn Guilliams | RHP | 60-day |
| Owen Holt | RHP | 60-day |
This group is joined by seven others on the injured lists that were previously report: Dennis Boatman (RHP), Hunter Hollan (RHP), Tejay Antone (RHP), Johnathan Harmon (RHP, Joneiker Arellano (RHP), Jordan Little (RHP), and Cam Collier (3B). Among that group, only Jordan Little was put on the full-season injured list, with the others being placed on the 60-day injured list.