The Reds announced that they have released right-hander Barrett Astin. He had been outrighted off of the 40-man roster last fall.
The 26-year-old Astin is a former third-round pick who landed in Cincinnati as the player to be named later in the 2014 swap that sent Jonathan Broxton to the Brewers. Astin cracked the majors last year, but issued seven walks while recording only two strikeouts in his eight innings of action.
Though he had a promising season at Double-A in 2016, Astin has largely struggled at the highest level of the minors. He carries a 5.91 ERA in 56 1/3 total innings for Triple-A Louisville and has surrendered over a dozen base hits per regulation game along with 7.8 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.
As bad as Broxton was for the Brewers, the Reds still won that trade.