MIAMI \u2014 Brandon Williamson had just completed the best start of his big league career, throwing 6 \u2154 shutout innings in a win on Monday, April 6, 2026 over the Miami Marlins. As he reflected on his journey to this moment, one thing excited him the most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was going to get to pitch again in five days, and again five days after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was only the beginning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2023, Williamson made his big league debut as a highly-touted prospect and became the Reds\u2019 most consistent pitcher as a rookie. In 2024, he barely pitched due to a shoulder injury. In 2025, he didn\u2019t pitch due to an elbow injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because Williamson is finally healthy, and even healthy than he was in 2023, he gets to show what he can really do for the first time in a Reds\u2019 uniform.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d554ba8e613.image.jpg\")
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Williamson throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on attack mode,\u201d Williamson said about his start on Monday. \u201cI felt like physically and mentally, I was in a good place to play offense and say, \u2018Here it is, try to hit it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, Williamson was dealing with aches in his shoulder. He adjusted by pitching more to contact and using a cutter-slider combination to get ground outs. But he always knew that he had more strikeouts in him.<\/p>\n
When he was a prospect, he was one of the best pitchers in the Minor Leagues at generating swing and miss. His shoulder issues prevented him from tapping into that in 2023 and 2024. Now that he\u2019s fully healthy, he\u2019s showcasing his real upside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight was fun to watch,\u201d Terry Francona said. \u201cWilly had thrown the ball so well all spring. Then, he had a bit of a hiccup in his first start. He came out tonight and really pitched. And he had to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Due to how much time he had missed, Williamson entered spring training on the outside looking in of the roster bubble. The Reds opened camp with a ton of starting pitching depth, but that was whittled away due to injuries. But even before Hunter Greene (elbow) and Nick Lodolo (blister) landed on the injured list, the Reds were discussing ways to get Williamson on the roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those injuries led to Williamson being the official No. 5 starter in the Reds\u2019 rotation. An inexperienced and injury-riddled rotation is counting on him. The team needed him to be fantastic on Monday as the offense didn\u2019t get much going. Williamson met the moment in a very meaningful start for him. The night ended with a 2-0 win for the Reds.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was nasty,\u201d Sal Stewart said. \u201cOur starting pitching is incredible. We\u2019re very fortunate to have them. We have to score more runs so they can feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson is still only 28 years old. While first-round picks Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder generate the most buzz, Williamson is also a dynamic young pitcher with impressive upside. He was just off the radar for a while due to injuries, but he\u2019s back now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Reds are thrilled to have him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks great,\u201d Lodolo said. \u201cThe stuff is really good. We all know Brandon knows how to pitch. When you combine those things, it can be something really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d554ba97c93.image.jpg\")
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Williamson (55) hand the ball to manager Terry Francona, left, after being relieved during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Brandon Williamson had just completed the best start of his big league career, throwing 6 \u2154…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,535,50,4259,4,536,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-668943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-cincinnatireds","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-reds","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116364998203323894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}