GOODYEAR, Arizona – With one week remaining before the Cincinnati Reds play their final spring training game, they signed right-handed reliever Heath Hembree to a minor-league contract with an invite to big-league camp Monday.
Hembree was released by Cleveland last week after he was cut from big-league camp. He’s pitched in seven Cactus League games this spring, yielding four hits and two runs (one earned) across 6 2/3 innings. He’s struck out eight and walked six.
“Normally with someone like Heath Hembree, with the track record he has, we would have loved to play it out a little longer, give him more opportunities to make the team,” Cleveland president Chris Antonetti told Cleveland.