After missing the entire 2024 season recovering from right flexor tendon surgery, former Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani isn’t ready to call it a career just yet. He recently signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees and has been assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Reds fans will remember DeSclafani’s time in Cincinnati as a mix of potential and setbacks. When healthy, he gave the Reds a solid chance to win, but frequent injuries kept him off the mound more often than not.
In his five seasons with Cincinnati, DeSclafani appeared in just 112 games, averaging 22 starts per year. He missed the entire 2017 season and dealt with nearly two years of downtime due to UCL surgery and repeated setbacks. During his stint with the Reds, he posted a 35–37 record with a 4.19 ERA, 556 strikeouts, and a 103 ERA+.
Originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB Draft, DeSclafani was traded to the Marlins in a blockbuster deal in 2012. After a brief stint in Miami, he was sent to the Reds along with Chad Wallach in exchange for Mat Latos. Cincinnati was eager to move on from Latos, and DeSclafani posted a 9–13 record with a 4.05 ERA in his debut season with the club.
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His best campaign came in 2019, when he stayed healthy and notched 167 strikeouts over 166 ⅔ innings. However, a back injury combined with the shortened 2020 season disrupted his momentum, and he departed via free agency that winter.
After three injury-riddled years with the San Francisco Giants and a lost 2024 season with the Twins, DeSclafani now looks to revive his career with the Yankees—a team currently dealing with injuries to starters Luis Gil, Marcus Stroman, and Gerrit Cole.
