At the end of every Major League Baseball season, a huge wave of unheralded talent hits free agency.
Former Seattle Mariners right-handed pitcher Taylor Floyd fits the definition to a T. Floyd has never appeared in a major league game, and in fact, he’s never even made it to Triple-A. But a couple of weeks before his 28th birthday, he got another shot with a new organization, thanks to his high strikeout totals from this past season.
According to the official transactions log on his MLB.com roster page, Floyd signed a minor-league deal with the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. He’ll join his fourth major league organization in hopes of finally progressing to the majors in year eight as a pro.
Taylor Floyd joins Reds on minor-league deal
Floyd pitched to a 4.53 ERA with Double-A Arkansas this past season, but the Mariners’ minor-league pitching coaches found a way to boost his strikeout totals. He went from striking out 8.9 batters per nine innings last year to 10.6 this year.
Once a 10th-round draft pick for the Milwaukee Brewers, Floyd was traded to the Minnesota Twins in 2023, then picked up in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft by the Mariners last December. He elected free agency on Nov. 6.
All told, Floyd wound up throwing just 57 2/3 innings in the Mariners organization, striking out 68 batters, walking 19, and allowing 63 hits.
Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but Floyd may see an opportunity in the Reds organization that he wasn’t getting with the Mariners. The flip side, of course, is that the Mariners may not think rostering a 28-year-old righty in Double-A makes sense with whatever pitching talent they have coming through the middle levels of the pipeline.
Seattle is obviously well-set in the pitching department, so losing Floyd is unlikely to prove costly in the long haul. But it’s interesting to watch talent bounce around in the offseason, because we never know which signings that seem inconsequential will prove crucial.
