Reds activate Andrew Abbott for season debut, option Will Benson to AAA

The lefty returns from his shoulder issues to face Pittsburgh in GABP.

According to FanGraphs, there’s not a single starting pitching consortium that’s been more valuable than that of the Cincinnati Reds so far in 2025.

Through 14 games, their 2.2 collective fWAR ranks as the best in the majors, and on Saturday they’re set to welcome back one of their most dependable arms of the last two seasons.

The Reds officially activated lefty Andrew Abbott off the injured list on Saturday, sending Will Benson back to AAA Louisville to make room on the active roster.

Over at Baseball Reference, they’ve valued only 19 starting pitchers as having provided more to their teams over the 2023-2024 seasons combined than Abbott, who compiled 6.1 bWAR there before being shut down late last year with a shoulder issue. Said shoulder issue set him just a little behind when spring camp began in Goodyear in February, and the Reds played it cautious with bringing him back.

Brought back he now is, however, and the hope is that he can slot right back into a Reds rotation that’s humming right along.

He’ll toe the rubber in the second game of the three-game weekend series in Great American Ball Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with first pitch set for 6:40 PM ET.

Notably, it was Benson who was optioned to AAA instead of Noelvi Marte, who didn’t get the start in last night’s series opener despite there being a LHP on the mound to begin things. If the thought was ‘Marte needs to be playing as often as possible to regain his once-elite form,’ the question became whether that option would be available to him at the big league level with this current roster mix.

Marte will start at 3B today, however, and if Christian Encarnacion-Strand continues to struggle, we may see Marte get more run there with Jeimer Candelario picking up more starts at 1B for the time being.

Reds Saturday Lineup vs. PIT