The Cincinnati Reds made a trio of roster moves today. The biggest one was when they acquired outfielder Peyton Burdick off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and then optioned him to Triple-A Louisville. To make room for him on the 40-man roster the team moved left-handed reliever Alex Young to the 60-day injured list. Cincinnati also sent right-handed reliever Ian Gibaut back out on a rehab assignment.
Cincinnati is bringing back one of their own. Well, sort of. Peyton Burdick is a graduate of Batavia High School and went on to play at Wright State before he was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft by the Miami Marlins. He saw action in the big leagues with Miami in both 2022 and 2023, playing in 46 games and hitting .200/.281/.368 with six doubles, five home runs, 11 walks, and 53 strikeouts in 139 plate appearances.
Miami traded him to Baltimore in February for an unknown amount of cash, but the Orioles designated him for assignment a week later and he was claimed by the White Sox. Three weeks after that the White Sox designated him for assignment and the Orioles claimed him.
In Triple-A with Norfolk, where the Orioles had a hilarious amount of talent at the plate, Burdick was struggling to hit. Through 16 games he had a .182/.333/.455 line with 28 strikeouts in just 69 plate appearances. He’s struggled to hit for average in his minor league career, posting a .233/.352/.457 line over parts of five minor league seasons that has seen him play in 412 games. Strikeouts have been a big concern as he’s struck out in 30.5% of his career minor league plate appearances despite generally being old for each level he’s played at. In the big leagues his strikeout rate has been 38.1%.
He has shown some power in the minors. And he’s all three spots in the outfield with regularity in the minors and majors (where he’s played 15, 16, and 15 games at each of the three spots). You can see all of Peyton Burdick’s career stats here.
Alex Young hasn’t pitched this season after being shut down in spring training with a back injury. He was not expected to pitch again until late May, so moving him to the 60-day injured list doesn’t really alter his timeline – it just creates a spot on the 40-man roster for the time being.
Ian Gibaut headed to Louisville for a rehab appearance today. They played a game that began at 11:00am ET and Gibaut completed his outing with a perfect frame that saw him strike out two batters and throw 12 pitches.