Will

Banfield

Banfield came up for a short, 10 plate appearance stint last season and went 0-for-10 with six strikeouts. Yet, he’s regarded as a quality defender behind the plate and will likely be used to help the Reds in that area since they’ve allowed the second-most stolen bases as a team this season. Noelvi Marte was optioned in a corresponding move, so Banfield will serve as the third catcher on their roster.

This is likely a transaction to keep Banfield from exercising an upward mobility clause. The gist of it is that he’ll take P.J. Higgins place on the 40-man roster and both players will remain at Louisville. Banfield signed with the Reds in December and the 26-year-old has a .281/.337/.439 in 189 plate appearances with the Bats this season.

Banfield returns as extra catching depth at Triple-A Louisville after going 1-for-10 over seven games this past season in his first opportunity at the highest level. He projects as an emergency backup at this stage of his development and can be safely ignored for fantasy purposes.

Banfield, who backed up Jose Trevino while Tyler Stephenson was out, went 1-for-10 with six strikeouts in his first stint in the majors.

Banfield, 25, will be making his major league debut after hitting .220/.277/.304 for Louisville. The Reds could see about putting a claim in on Ali Sánchez, who was waived by the Red Sox on Monday, if they’d prefer someone else serve as Jose Trevino’s backup while Tyler Stephenson is out.

Banfield was a second-round pick of the Marlins back in 2018 and never wound up reaching the big leagues. The 25-year-old backstop will presumably head to Triple-A Louisville to open next season as extra organizational catching depth after batting .247/.297/.379 with nine homers in 371 plate appearances last year for Triple-A Jacksonville.

No injury was specified, so this is probably something having to do with COVID-19. Banfield was included in the Marlins’ player pool for 2020 mostly to catch bullpen sessions and work in simulated/intrasquad games. The 20-year-old backstop hit just .199/.252/.310 over 433 plate appearances last summer in Low-A ball.