On Sunday, the Reds agreed to a deal with reliever Pierce Johnson (the terms of the deal aren’t yet known). They’ve also finalized minor league contracts with two experienced big league infielders in Michael Toglia and Garrett Hampson.
Johnson has proven to be a capable middle reliever on good teams.
While the 2025 Braves only won 76 games, Johnson made 45 of his 65 appearances in high-leverage spots. On a playoff team in Atlanta in 2024, Johnson pitched the eighth inning of a close win-or-go-home postseason game and was a high-leverage option all season. On a 2023 Braves team that won 104 games, Johnson was added to the roster at the deadline and wowed as he posted a 0.76 ERA during the season half of the year. Johnson’s previous contract was one that he signed with the Braves heading into 2024, which was for two years and $14.25 million. On that contract, he had the best two-year stretch of his big league career and provided a lot of value. In 2025, Johnson posted a 3.05 ERA in 65 games.
He slots in right around returning reliever Graham Ashcraft as well as newly acquired left-hander Caleb Ferguson in the Reds’ middle relief core for 2026. The Reds also have some very exciting, talented rookie relievers in Connor Phillips, Luis Mey and Zach Maxwell who could further bolster that group. The Reds’ middle relief core looks stronger than what it was for most of the 2025 season.
Johnson has a unique approach as he fills up the strike zone with curveballs. No reliever in MLB threw more curveballs last season than he did, which makes Johnson a unique style of pitcher to face. He struggled solidifying himself at the start of his professional career, and he pitched in Japan in 2019. Johnson’s curveball has been the key to his success over the last few years.
In a different way and on a different scale, the Reds built up more position player depth by signing two players to minor league deals who have been every day players in the big leagues.
Toglia was the Colorado Rockies’ primary first baseman in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, as he posted an above-average OPS and hit 25 homers in just 116 games, he looked like he was solidifying his status as the Rockies’ long-term first baseman. His inability to make consistent contact and his high strikeout rate prevented him from continuing down that trend. Toglia hit .190 in 2025 and was cut at the end of the season.
Toglia, a first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, has made 262 starts in the big leagues and played first base as well as right field.
Hampson is a utilityman who had a cup of coffee with the Reds in 2025. Between 2019 and 2022, the speedy Hampson was mainstay in the Rockies’ lineup and impressed with his glove as he played seven different positions. He spent the 2023 season in Miami, where he was a league-average hitter. But over the last two years, Hampson has really struggled at the plate.
He spent the 2025 season with three different organizations, including nine games with the Reds. Last season, Hampson hit .143. Despite his limitations at the plate, Hampson is still more experienced, versatile and useful than the average Triple-A infielder.
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