Cincinnati Reds sign utilityman P.J. Higgins for 2026

Photo: Doug Gray

The Cincinnati Reds are bringing minor league utilityman P.J. Higgins back for the 2026 season. This will be the third season in a row that he’s spent with the Reds organization after first signing with the team prior to the 2024 season.

Higgins has some big league experience. In both 2021 and 2022 he saw action with the Chicago Cubs. During 2021 he only played in nine games, but in 2022 he saw playing time in 74 games and hit .229/.310/.383. Higgins split most of his time that year between catcher and first base for the Cubs.

Since he signed with the Reds he’s spent both of his seasons in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats. Over the course of the 2024 season he played in 135 games in the International League and had 32 doubles to go along with 11 home runs while posting a .259/.320/.385 line for the Bats. Last year things didn’t quite go as well for him. Higgins played in 111 games for Louisville in 2025 and had 16 doubles and seven home runs while hitting .240/.300/.345. He struck out significantly less often in 2025 than he had in 2024 but it resulted in worse outcomes across the board. You can see his career stats here.

A part of that could be that he spent far more time behind the plate in 2025. Higgins played 66 games as the Bats catcher this past season after doing the same just 28 times in 2024. In both seasons he also played 20+ games at both first base and third base for Louisville.

The 32-year-old adds a bit to the Reds catching depth, though they aren’t likely to be relying on him to do much filling in there at the big league level given that they have Tyler Stephenson, Jose Trevino, and Ben Rortvedt on the 40-man roster as backstops, and Will Banfield in Triple-A. But Higgins could provide depth behind the plate in Louisville while also being a guy who if he starts to hit a little bit could fill a potential backup role in the big leagues if a catcher were to go down. Being a utilityman who can be the third catcher on the big league roster would allow Tyler Stephenson a chance to be used a bit more often on days when he’s not behind the plate and Jose Trevino’s running the pitching staff.

PJ Higgins