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    Reds designate Will Benson for assignment

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    CIN Right Fielder #30
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    Reds designated OF Will Benson for assignment.

    Benson showed some flashes of power/speed combo fantasy potential at various points during his career, but was never quite able to establish himself as a long-term everyday option for the Reds in a corner-outfield role. The 28-year-old has been removed from Cincinnati’s crowded 40-man roster after being shipped to the minors back in late June. He figures to attract some interest on waivers.
The CCs: Who were MLB's most elite in 2026?
CC Sabathia hands out his MLB 2026 season awards, from MVP and Breakout Star to The Swag Award.

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  • FA Right Fielder #30
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    Benson played a major role in the Reds’ outfield over the previous three seasons but wound up seeing just 114 plate appearances in 2026 while slashing a gruesome .188/.310/.333 with three homers, six RBI and a 38/16 K/BB ratio. He’s now free to peddle his wares on the open market.
  • CIN Right Fielder #30
    Benson was sent to the minors on June 23rd after hitting .188/.310/.333 in 114 plate appearances this season with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. He was then designated for assignment about a week later to make room on the 40-man roster and will now return to Louisville.
  • CIN Right Fielder #30
    Benson is hitting just .188/.310/.333 in 114 plate appearances this season with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. Now 28 years old and with a 33.3 percent career MLB strikeout rate in 405 games, you have to wonder if Benson’s time in Cincinnati may be drawing to a close. Noelvi Marte could also be pushed off of right field if the Reds want to play Spencer Steer out there with Elly De La Cruz back.
  • CIN Right Fielder #30
    Benson’s home run was his third of the year. He pinch hit to lead-off the bottom of the ninth inning and tied the game with a solo home run off Royals reliever Lucas Erceg. Benson is a bench bat who will continue to see most of his at-bats come against right-handed pitching.
  • CIN Right Fielder #4
    Marte has started just three times in five contests to open the season, which is a bit perplexing considering how he finished last year as one of Cincinnati’s core offensive contributors. It’s notable that he’s in the lineup to face Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler in this one. The 24-year-old former top prospect will continue splitting time with Will Benson, who is in left field on Tuesday night with Spencer Steer on the bench. The emergence of Sal Stewart and return of Eugenio Suárez has created a logjam for the Reds with Marte drawing the short straw for now.
  • CIN Left Fielder #30
    Benson has started against both right-handers the Reds have faced so far. We rather thought that’d be happening mostly at Spencer Steer’s expense, rather than Noelvi Marte’s, but as long as Benson has that strong-side platoon role, he should offer value in deeper leagues. The 27-year-old had a 15-percent barrel rate and a 54-percent hard-hit rate in his 230 plate appearances last year.
  • CIN Right Fielder #4
    Marte has now sat against both righties the Reds have faced this season, which is a bit confusing considering he had reverse splits last year. To start the year, it seems like Will Benson will be starting against right-handed pitchers, which makes it hard to roster Marte in shallower formats right now, especially considering the Reds are set to face right-handed starters in eight of their next nine games.
  • CIN Left Fielder #30
    The Reds probably wouldn’t have brought in JJ Bleday if they didn’t think he was better than Benson, but Benson, who has a 1.050 OPS through 24 plate appearances, seems like the more interesting of the two from here. Both seem likely to make the team out of spring training, and one could start against most right-handers, assuming that the Reds don’t make Spencer Steer their primary left fielder. Given that Steer has started just once in the outfield thus far, it wouldn’t seem to be the plan.
  • CIN Outfield #30
    That the Reds considered JJ Bleday an apparent upgrade from Benson doesn’t like great news for the 27-year-old, and now they could now bypass both and play Spencer Steer in left field after signing Eugenio Suárez. Still, Benson might be the Reds’ best option in left against righties. Statcast thought he was pretty unlucky to finish at .226/.273/.435 last year, and along with his improved EV numbers, he did nice work to lower his strikeout rate last season.
  • CIN Right Fielder #30
    Benson ended up at .226/.273/.435 in 253 plate appearances, but the drop in his strikeout rate from a career mark of 35.5% to 26.5% last season was encouraging, especially in combination with his career-best 54% hard-hit rate. The assumption is that the newly signed JJ Bleday will get the nod over Benson against right-handers initially, but the guess here is that Benson proves to be the better player of the two, potentially giving him some value in deeper formats.

Rotoworld

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    Reliever Jyun-Yue Tseng has been posted by the Fubon Guardians of the CPBL.

    Tseng pitched two scoreless innings for Taiwan in the WBC this year before posting a 1.58 ERA as Fubon’s closer. It’s unlikely that major league teams will look at him as a closer, but he throws in the mid-90s and would seem to have enough on his slider to be useful.
  • CIN Right Fielder #4
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    Noelvi Marte homered and doubled twice for Cibao of the Dominican Winter League on Friday.

    Marte is hitting .349/.368/.540 through 15 games, giving him the DWL’s sixth-highest OPS. He’s also a perfect 7-for-7 stealing bases. He probably needs a fresh start somewhere other than Cincinnati at this point, but there’s still ample talent here. He only just turned 25 last month.
  • HOU Starting Pitcher #66
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    Miguel Ullola and Alimber Santa made their Dominican Winter League debuts for Cibao on Friday, with each throwing a scoreless innings and earning a hold.

    Both Astros relievers are native of the Dominican Republic, but they hadn’t received the opportunity to take part in the Winter League before. Ullola is getting the chance this year probably in part because his move from the rotation to the bullpen curtailed his workload. He had a 2.16 ERA over 16 2/3 innings during his stints with the Astros, and he should be in decent position to win a spot in the Houston pen next spring.
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    J.C. Escarra knocked in five runs with a triple, a single and a sac fly for the Aguilas Cibaenas of the Dominican Winter League on Friday.

    Escarra spent the second half of last season in Triple-A after the Yankees figured out it really didn’t make sense to pair Austin Wells with a fellow left-handed hitter behind the plate. That should get sorted out this winter, with the Yankees bringing in a better backup than Ali Sánchez and hopefully sending Escarra to a team with which he’d be a more useful No. 2 catcher.
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    Jaime Ferrer went 3-for-4 with two homers and two walks for Caguas of the Puerto Rican Winter League on Friday.

    The 23-year-old Ferrer was a fourth-round pick out of Florida State in 2024. He hasn’t shown the same kind of promise as a minor leaguer that he did while hitting .317/.418/.665 with 22 homers as a Junior at Florida State, but there’s still hope for him as a potential lefty masher at first base or in left field. He finished at .244/.343/.407 with 15 homers between High-A and Double-A last season.
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    Adam Zebrowski had a homer and two doubles in his debut for Mayaguez of the Puerto Rican Winter League on Friday.

    Zebrowski, a 13th-round pick in 2021, broke out offensively last season, hitting .255/.333/.551 with 22 homers in 83 games between Double- and Triple-A. He doesn’t have a particularly strong defensive reputation, so he’s probably not going to be viewed as a potential full-time backup catcher in the majors. However, he’s now in position to potentially see MLB time at some point.
  • DET Starting Pitcher
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    Maddox Long pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings for his second Arizona Fall League win on Friday.

    Long opened 2026 in the independent Frontier League after going undrafted out of Harding University in 2025. The Tigers picked him up in late June, and he went on to post a 3.74 ERA and a 44/11 K/BB over 33 2/3 innings in two starts and eight relief appearances between the Complex League and A-ball. Now he’s been one of the most effective pitchers in Arizona, amassing a 1.59 ERA and a 14/6 K/BB in 17 innings, and he looks like someone who could be pretty useful in middle relief.
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    Kyle DeBarge homered, tripled and walked Friday to raise his Arizona Fall League average to .347.

    DeBarge’s 1.098 OPS ranks fifth in the league, and he’s first with 26 runs scored in 20 games. The 33rd overall pick in the 2024 draft, DeBarge had a very disappointing minor league season, hitting just .221/.325/.352 with a 26 percent strikeout rate in his Double-A debut. He does have some defensive value as a second baseman or as a possible utilityman and he’s a prolific basestealer, so he’s not going to need to excel offensively in order to carve out a major league role. We’ll find out next year whether he’s started to turn the corner some or if is AFL success is more of a product of the environment.
  • CIN Starting Pitcher
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    Jose Montero turned in three scoreless innings with five strikeouts Friday for Peoria of the Arizona Fall League.

    Montero was making his first start after allowing six earned runs over six innings in five relief appearances. The 23-year-old had a 4.26 ERA and an 84/47 K/BB in 101 1/3 innings while splitting time between the rotation and the pen between High-A and Double-A last season. He’s Rule 5 eligible this winter, but the Reds probably won’t protect him; his ceiling is likely middle relief, and he’ll need to take a couple of steps forward to get there.
  • BAL 1st Baseman
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    Ike Irish drove in three with a double and a single Friday for Peoria of the Arizona Fall League.

    Irish, a first-round pick in 2025, is batting .313/.430/.469 with more walks (13) than strikeouts (11) in 79 plate appearances. He’s thus far started nine games the outfield and five at first base, which goes right along with how the Orioles used him in High-A last season. He’ll move up to Double-A next year, and while he’s not in the Orioles’ major league plans for 2027, there’s the chance he could really bust out and insert himself into the mix.