PIERCE JOHNSON
With the relievers the Reds already had on the roster in the middle of January, the front office could have looked at the bullpen as pretty set. There was enough talent and depth to roll into spring training with what the Reds already had. But then, they signed Pierce Johnson and made him the second-highest paid reliever on the roster.
Terry Francona has said a lot over the years, when you think you have enough pitching, get more. Johnson is the veteran right-handed presence in the middle of the Reds’ bullpen.
“He’s a veteran, he spins the ball,” Francona said. “He’s a different look from some of our other guys. You have some power back there. (Johnson) is more in line with (Scott Barlow, who was on the team in 2025). That’s good. You can start lining guys up where you think they fit the best. We have multiple lefties now. That should help.”
Other than Emilio Pagán, since Nick Krall became the front office’s lead decision maker in 2020, Johnson’s $6.5 million salary was the next-most that Krall has given to a relief pitcher in free agency.
The Reds are expecting him to be a big part of their bullpen plans in 2026, and his versatility is an asset.
“Emilio is probably going to be at the back end anchoring it down,” Johnson said. “Big Ton (Tony Santillan) is probably going to be the eighth inning guy. You have lefties. Some of it may be situational. You roll with the punches. It’s nice to know your role… But I don’t care what my role is. I’m just excited for the season and this group of guys.”
Johnson has pitched in just about every role in the big leagues.
He received his first extended opportunity in the big leagues with the Giants in 2018, and he was a long reliever during that season. After posting a 5.56 ERA in 2018, he spent the 2019 season pitching in Japan. Back in the big leagues between 2020 and the trade deadline in 2023, he was a fine, nondescript middle reliever with the Padres and Rockies.
Then in 2023, the Braves traded for Johnson at the deadline.
“When I got to Atlanta, they sat me down and said your curveball is your best pitch,” Johnson said. “You weren’t getting it down in Colorado. We want you to throw it more and bury it when you have two strikes.”
The trade and that message changed his career. Using his curveball as his primary pitch, Johnson posted a 0.76 ERA after the deadline in 2023 with the Braves and played a big role on a Braves team that won 104 games. Then in Atlanta between 2024 and 2025, he posted a 3.36 ERA while striking out over a batter per inning.
In Atlanta, he was a setup guy. He has also been a closer in the big leagues.
On the mound, he’s a unique style of pitcher as he uses his curveball 70% of the time.
“It goes outing by outing,” Johnson said. “There might be an outing where I’m at 50% and an outing at 90%. You know your scouting report, who you’re facing, the scouting report and the situation at hand.”
Johnson is a very close friend of Emilio Pagán’s, so he watched a lot of Reds games last year (he made a point to watch every one of Pagán’s outings). He also goes way back with Derek Johnson, who worked closely with Pierce Johnson when he was a prospect in the Cubs’ system a decade ago.
He’s excited about the makeup of this bullpen.
“It’s an elite group of guys,” Johnson said. “There’s diversity, different looks, some firepower. Some funkiness to a lot of guys.”
CALEB FERGUSON
Caleb Ferguson, a 38th round pick in the MLB Draft, made his big league debut at 21 years old for a Los Angeles Dodgers team that went on to make it to the World Series. During that 2018 season, Ferguson had one of the better strikeout rates in all of baseball. Then in six high-leverage postseason appearances, Ferguson didn’t allow a single hit or a single run.
How’d he do it?
“I don’t know,” said Ferguson, who signed a one-year deal for $4.5 million with the Reds in December. “I’ve always gone about it as just give me a chance. There was never any type of self doubt. I knew how good I was. I took the approach as I just needed a seat in the same room as everybody else. I knew once I got it, I wasn’t going to lose sight of it.”
Ferguson, now an established 29-year-old left-hander who held left-handed hitters to a .184 average and .465 OPS in 2025, said he got lucky at the start of his career to be surrounded by veteran teammates like Daniel Hudson and David Freese.
They showed Ferguson the ropes through a thrilling rookie season and all the way through the playoffs.
“I don’t think I realized the magnitude of what I was accomplishing at this moment,” Ferguson said. “I was a 21-year-old kid who just loved playing baseball. I don’t think I took into account what I was doing.”
For nearly his entire career, Ferguson has been a solid middle reliever on contending teams. He has played for the Dodgers, Yankees, Astros and Mariners (as well as the Pirates). After being traded to the Mariners at the deadline last year, he had his role in the bullpen on a Mariners team that made it to the ALCS.
During the playoffs, he found time to catch some of the Reds’ series versus the Dodgers.
“When you watch how the Reds did it in the Wild Card series, a glaring thing that we needed was a left-handed reliever,” Ferguson said. “Now we have three (Ferguson, Brock Burke and Sam Moll).
In 2025, Ferguson was absolutely elite at limiting hard contact, ranking in the top 1% in MLB in average exit velocity allowed, barrel rate allowed and hard hit percentage allowed. He also got a good amount of chase.
He throws a lot of fastballs, a “big” curveball that gets a solid amount of swing and miss and a two-seam fastball that he added a few years ago has become the big equalizer for him vs. left-handed hitters. He threw 215 sinkers last year (his go-to pitch) and only allowed 13 hits. Twelve of those 13 hits were singles — left-handed hitters couldn’t square up that two-seamer.
It was the same story in 2024. Left-handed hitters recorded six total hits, all singles, against that two-seamer.
This year, the Columbus native will play for the Reds team that he grew up rooting for.
“ I’m happy,” Ferguson said. “We’ll see what the year brings.”
BROCK BURKE
Here are the left-handed relievers who threw a pitch of 100 mph+ last season.
-Aroldis Chapman (All-Star)
-Jose Alvarado (makes $9 million, good reliever)
-Mason Montgomery (rookie in 2025, the Pirates just targeted him in a notable trade with the Rays)
-Jose A Ferrer (very good — traded a few months ago for a top-50 prospect in MLB)
-Adrian Morejon (All-Star)
-Gregory Soto (two-time All-Star)
-Brock Burke
He’s a hard throwing lefty who isn’t a left-on-left specialist and has been able to get right-handed batters out at a good clip. A former starting pitcher with a four-pitch mix, Burke forces a ton of ground balls, fills up the zone and is good at limiting hard contact. His slider is also a good swing and miss pitch.
He isn’t a big name, but Burke has proven to be a solid, useful big league reliever.
The Reds acquired him in a three-team deal in January as they traded Gavin Lux. Last year, it felt like a problem every night for the Reds that they didn’t have a good left-handed option late in games (Brent Suter was the long guy, and Taylor Rogers wasn’t good). This year, the Reds have two proven lefties in Ferguson and Burke.
With the Rangers in 2022, Burke was one of the best relievers in MLB (52 appearances, 1.97 ERA, 2.1 WAR). He took a step back in 2023 (4.37 ERA in 53 appearances), but he was a role player on a Rangers team that won the World Series.
He struggled a lot more in 2024 and was DFAd by the Rangers in August. The Angels picked Burke up off waivers.
He says that joining the Angels was a turning point.
“I got back to doing what was good for me, what I do well,” Burke said. “I fixed a few bad habits that I had developed and got back to throwing the way I did in 2022 without thinking too much about mechanics. The way my body wants to move naturally is the way that it was going to. It helped a lot.”
He started using his changeup more and mixing in his sinker versus left-handed hitters, which really helped his groundball rate. Instead of trying to overpower guys with his elite velocity and taking more chances by challenging hitters with blazing fastballs, he became more of a pitcher.
Burke was pretty good, posting a 3.40 ERA with the Angels across 90 appearances between 2024 and 2025. In the three-team deal in January, the Angels dealt him to acquire their projected starting left fielder (Los Angeles acquired Josh Lowe from the Rays while Gavin Lux went to Tampa).
It’s still very early in camp. But seeing him for the first time, Burke passes the eye test. He’s athletic, impresses with his velocity and is an established veteran who clearly knows what he’s doing.
“I’m happy to be here,” Burke said. “I appreciate everything LA did helping me get back on my feet. The Reds were definitely excited to get me here. I’m excited to be a part of a very good bullpen.”
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