Brandon

Williamson

The procedural move frees up a spot on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster for reliever Tejay Antone. Williamson is facing an extended absence after hitting the shelf with shoulder fatigue last week. He’s battled shoulder issues in the past, so the level of concern here is fairly high. He’ll be out until at least after the All-Star break in July.

As of now, the Reds are saying this is nothing more than fatigue, but it’s a situation we’ll monitor. The left-hander was potentially set to lose his spot in the rotation with Nick Lodolo (blister) coming back, but now there is a clear spot for Lodolo to return to.

Williamson was charged with four runs. He gave up four hits, struck out four and issued four walks in the abbreviated 58-pitch outing. The 28-year-old lefty has worked beyond the fifth inning only twice in five starts to open the year. The lack of volume and limited strikeout potential extinguish any real path to fantasy relevance. He’s compiled an underwhelming 6.11 ERA, 1.64 WHIP and 19/20 K/BB ratio across 28 innings. He’s in line for a tough road start against the Cubs on Monday, if he’s cleared to take the ball.

The left-hander struck out three and walked three while posting just a nine percent swinging strike rate and 22 percent CSW. His cutter was really the only pitch he had working here, throwing it for a strike 70 percent of the time and posting a 20 percent swinging strike rate. He failed to miss bats with many of his other pitches, and the Rays weren’t chasing anything out of the zone. If Nick Lodolo (blister) is finally able to make his return from the injured list, then it’s likely that Williamson will lose his spot in the rotation.

The 28-year-old hurler did issue four walks on the evening while recording a pair of strikeouts. Williamson walked six batters his last time out in a no-decision against the Angels and the free passes nearly cost him a shot at a victory again on Friday. He was able to hold the Twins to just one run though on a sacrifice fly by Austin Martin in the fifth inning. Williamson threw only 50 of his 93 pitches for strikes, getting six whiffs and posting a CSW of 23 percent. He’ll try to extend his winning streak to two as he carries a 4.35 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and a 12/13 K/BB ratio (20 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s battle against the Rays in Tampa. Unless he can get the walks in check, fantasy managers should tread very lightly here.

Williamson was working through traffic in this one as he struggled to find the zone. He stranded two runners in each of the first two innings before loading the bases in the third. A groundout would bring a run in before Williamson escaped the jam with just the one run allowed. Two more walks in the fourth put two on for Mike Trout, who doubled to score both runners. Williamson’s day would be done after four innings at 93 pitches, only 49 for strikes. The 28-year-old left-hander will take a 5.28 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and a 10/9 K/BB ratio into a start against the Twins in Minnesota on Friday.

Williamson wasn’t overpowering, but he limited Miami to nine hard-hit balls and needed just 93 pitches to reach the seventh inning in his second start of the year. It was a much-needed bounce-back after surrendering six runs on three homers against the Pirates in his season debut last week. He’s in line for another favorable matchup against the Angels on Sunday to finish off a two-start week.

Williamson, who is returning from Tommy John, was making his first start since 2024, and by giving up three homers to the Pirates, he accomplished something that no pitcher had done since that season. Ryan O’Hearn and Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back homers off him in the second before Oneil Cruz chimed in with another in the fourth. Williamson was supposed to be part of some odd hybrid gig for the Reds before Nick Lodolo’s blister meant there was room for all three of him, Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder in the rotation. Instead of going back to whatver was the original plan, they should probably just send down Williamson once Lodolo returns.

Back from Tommy John, Williamson has earned a spot on Cincinnati’s roster with his 1.65 ERA this spring. It sounds like he’ll be paired with Chase Burns for now, with one or both throwing four or five innings at a time.

Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson have also made Cincinnati’s rotation. There was speculation that Burns would open the season in the minors after experiencing some physical issues last week but Francona has put those concerns to bed. The 23-year-old top prospect is likely to have some workload limitations at the outset of the year as the Reds exercise caution with his ramp-up process, but he’ll remain in the big-league rotation. The plan is for the Reds to use a combination of Burns, Williamson and Lowder to fill two rotation spots. It’s an encouraging development for Burns, who has been going off the board as a top 25-30 range fantasy starter in drafts based on his stratospheric strikeout upside.