Tejay Antone Returns After 3 Elbow Surgeries, Reds Shuffle Bullpen
Tejay Antone is back in the majors, and the Reds made room by placing Emilio Pagán on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. The right-hander’s promotion comes after three elbow surgeries and only 36 official innings across the 2022-to-2025 stretch, a thin workload for a pitcher the Reds are again asking to help in the bullpen.
Reds add Antone, lose Pagán
The Reds selected Antone’s contract on the day of the announcement and also activated right-hander Pierce Johnson from the bereavement list. Chase Petty was optioned, and Brandon Williamson was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open the 40-man roster spot needed for Antone.
Pagán’s absence comes with a timetable attached. He said he’ll miss about four to eight weeks, and he said he was pleasantly surprised because he figured his season was over, given the amount of pain he was in.
Antone’s long injury road
Antone’s path back runs through a long series of elbow setbacks. He underwent Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2017, needed another Tommy John surgery in August 2021, missed the 2022 season while rehabbing, and then had another major elbow surgery early in 2024 after tearing a tendon off his bone and suffering a ligament tear.
After the 2024 season, the Reds outrighted him off the roster. He returned to the mound in 2025 and made a few minor league appearances in August and September before re-signing with the Reds on a new minor league deal for 2026.
What the numbers say
His recent work was limited but sharp enough to get him back in the picture. Antone made 12 Triple-A appearances this year and allowed 2.25 earned runs per nine. He struck out 15 of 49 batters faced, issued six walks, hit one batter and threw two wild pitches.
Over the 2022 through 2025 span, he logged 36 official innings across the majors and minors combined. That is a far different workload from the 69 innings he gave the Reds in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, when he posted a 2.48 ERA. With Pagán out, Tony Santillan and Graham Ashcraft will probably have to help handle save situations, and Antone’s return gives the Reds another arm with late-game experience if his body holds up.
