In the 2024 season, Zach Maxwell made easy work in Double-A Chattanooga and was promoted up to Triple-A rather quickly. He found some success there, but struggled in some areas, too.

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When the 2025 season began the Cincinnati Reds sent the big right-handed pitcher back to Triple-A where he was in the bullpen for the Louisville Bats. Maxwell pitched a shutout inning in five games for Louisillve over the course of their first eight contests. He would get three full days of rest before getting back on the mound on April 9th against Indianapolis where he gave up his first two runs of the season. While he had some solid outings mixed in there, he struggled over the next month as he gave up 11 earned runs and had six walks to go along with six strikeouts in 7.1 innings over nine appearances.

When he took the mound on May 7th and fired off a shutout inning he began a run of five weeks where he didn’t give up a run in 11.1 innings pitched for Louisville. That streak came to an end in a 4-run, 1.0 inning performance against Iowa on June 12th. He would rebound after that and was solid through the end of July. His first three weeks of August saw him allow just one run in 9.1 innings out of the Bats bullpen.

That led to Cincinnati making the decision to call him up and he would make his MLB debut on August 23rd against Arizona where he allowed a run in 2.0 innings and struck out five. He would then alternate shutout performances with ones in which he allowed a run over the next four weeks, with his final appearance being on September 16th.

For all 2025 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).

Position: Right-handed pitcher | B/T: R/R

Height: 6′ 6″ | Weight: 275 lbs. | Acquired: 6th Round (2022 Draft) | Born: January 26, 2001

Fastball | Plus plus velocity as he averaged 99 MPH on his fastball in both 2024 and 2025.

Slider | Another plus offering that works in the mid-to-upper 80’s.

Cutter | A new pitch in 2025, it’s an above-average pitch that works in the low-to-mid 90’s.

When it comes to the stuff there’s no question that Zach Maxwell has it. It’s never really been in doubt. But what has been and still is is his ability to throw strikes. While he has improved in that regard since turning pro he’s still got poor control and walks entirely too many batters to be counted on in any sort of regular duty at the big league level

That’s pretty much the way things are with Maxwell at this point. He’s going to have to throw more strikes if he’s going to stick around in the big leagues. The stuff is there to pitch at the back end of just about any bullpen around, but without the ability to throw strikes consistently he isn’t likely to be counted on for even middle relief.

Stats

Video

Interesting Stat on Zach Maxwell

His ERA in 18 day games was 6.50 with Louisville. His ERA in 33 night games was 2.84 for the Bats.