The Reds may have found a new arm worth watching, and it came from a place nobody expected.
On a night in Arizona when 2025 second-round pick Aaron Watson took the ball for Cincinnati against the Rangers in rookie-level complex league action, the attention quickly shifted to the pitcher who followed him out of the bullpen: Logan Tanner. The former catcher, once known more for what he could do behind the plate than on the mound, made his first professional pitching appearance and wasted no time showing why the Reds are intrigued.
Tanner, a second-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2022, was drafted as a catcher with a reputation for elite defense and a big arm. The bat never came around.
Over 163 games in A-ball between Single-A Daytona and High-A Dayton, he hit .189/.305/.310 with 187 strikeouts in 631 plate appearances. The glove stayed strong, but the offensive production never gave the Reds enough reason to keep him in that role.
Last year, after a rough start at the plate, Cincinnati asked Tanner whether he wanted to try pitching. He was sent to Arizona, but before he could appear in a game, he got hurt and had elbow surgery in June.
Now he’s finally on the mound, and the first look was loud.
Tanner opened his outing with a 96.1 MPH fastball that was fouled off. Three pitches later, he had his first strikeout as a professional pitcher, finishing the batter with a slider that drew a swing and miss.
The next hitter saw a pair of cutters at 91 MPH, swinging through one and taking the other for a called strike before Tanner blew a 96.4 MPH fastball past him for strike three. He capped the inning by getting ahead 1-2 and then reaching back for more, firing a 98.4 MPH fastball by Jay McQueen.
It was a brief outing, but it checked a lot of boxes. Tanner, now 25, was facing three 19-year-old hitters at the lowest level of affiliated baseball in the United States.
Still, this wasn’t just a novelty appearance. He threw three different pitches, landed 9 of his 11 pitches for strikes, and touched 98.4 MPH in a game for the first time since he was in high school in 2019.
The Reds have taken shots like this before. Alex Blandino tried pitching with a knuckleball, but it didn’t last because he couldn’t locate it.
Cory Thompson, an infielder who got a chance on the mound a few years earlier, pitched parts of three seasons, reached Double-A, and later signed with the Cardinals before spending two seasons in their farm system. He’s now pitching independent league ball.
And if Tanner’s transition keeps moving forward, Cincinnati could be looking at something even rarer. Trevor Hoffman began his pro career as a shortstop, moved to the mound after two years of not hitting, and two years later was selected by the Florida Marlins in the expansion draft and reached the big leagues. He went on to a Hall of Fame career with 601 saves over 18 MLB seasons.
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