Photo: Doug Gray
The Cincinnati Reds are bringing two guys back to the organization who were with them last year after signing utilityman Garrett Hampson and right-handed pitcher Josh Staumont to minor league contracts.
In 2025 Garrett Hampson didn’t begin the year with Cincinnati. He started the season with the Arizona Diamondbacks but after six weeks he was hitting just .167/.359/.167 they designated him for assignment. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues and he declared for free agency. The Reds signed him a few days later. In his first game he went 2-5 against Kansas City. The following four weeks he went 1-13 and played in just eight games before the Reds also designated him for assignment. He didn’t clear waivers this time around and was claimed by the St. Louis Cardinals. Things weren’t any better at the plate there, either, as he hit .103 in 35 games.
2025 was the worst season of his career, by far. Never known for hitting much, Hampson had a career OPS of .662 and an OPS+ of 72. But in 2025 he had an OPS of just .419 and an OPS+ was 20. In some of his previous years his bat was just enough to warrant his being the last guy on the roster where he could play both infield and outfield for your team. While multiple teams tried that again in 2025 it just didn’t work out for anyone involved. The 31-year-old isn’t on a big league contract in 2026, so he’s going to have to go to Triple-A and prove he’s capable of hitting again if he’s going to get back to the big leagues. You can see the career stats for Garrett Hampson here.
Josh Staumont saw big league action in every year from 2019 through 2024, pitching for the Kansas City Royals until 2024 when he was with the Minnesota Twins. During that time in the big leagues he threw 192.2 innings out of the bullpen with a 3.97 ERA, had 109 walks, allowed 16 home runs, and struck out 209 hitters. His year with the Twins was a mixed bag as he posted a 3.70 ERA in his 24.1 innings, didn’t give up a home run, and held opponents to just 17 hits. But he also walked 14 batters with just 14 strikeouts and he struggled for the third season in a row at the big league level. In early August he was released by the Twins and signed with the Cubs, who sent him to Triple-A for two weeks before they also released him.
In February of 2025 he would sign with the Reds on a minor league deal and got an invite to big league spring training. He would pitch in one game in big league camp with the Reds, throwing a hitless inning against San Francisco with a walk and two strikeouts on February 23rd. We wouldn’t see him again for the rest of the season as he wound up on the injured list and missed the entire season. You can see the career stats for Josh Staumont here.
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