Former Blue Wahoos Pitcher, Gulf Breeze Grad, Ben Lively To Join Reds In MLB Return

Ben Lively made his debut for the Blue Wahoos on June 22, 2014 at Blue Wahoos Stadium as a rising Cincinnati Reds prospect. He will make his Reds debut a decade later this weekend. (Photo courtesy of Pensacola News Journal)

By Bill Vilona/Senior Writer

May 9, 2023

Four years after his last Major League appearance, Gulf Breeze native Ben Lively is back in the big leagues, this time with the team which drafted him a decade ago. Lively, 31, a Gulf Breeze High and Central Florida graduate, who pitched in Pensacola for the Blue Wahoos in

Four years after his last Major League appearance, Gulf Breeze native Ben Lively is back in the big leagues, this time with the team which drafted him a decade ago.

Lively, 31, a Gulf Breeze High and Central Florida graduate, who pitched in Pensacola for the Blue Wahoos in 2014 as a Cincinnati Reds prospect, will soon make his Reds debut.

The Reds called up Lively on Tuesday from their Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. He’s expected to join the Reds starting rotation and could make his start this weekend in Miami when the Reds visit the Miami Marlins.

It will be a full-circle journey for Lively, who was drafted by the Reds in the fourth round of the 2013 draft out of UCF. But he was later traded and eventually made his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Former Blue Wahoos pitcher, Gulf Breeze native Ben Lively made his MLB debut in 2017 with the Philadelphia Phillies.Photo courtesy of Pensacola News Journal

Lively, who rose from youth baseball in the Gulf Breeze Youth Sports Association, all the way into the major leagues, was traded from the Reds to the Phillies on New Year’s Eve in 2014.

He made his MLB debut on June 3, 2017 with the Phillies. He made 26 appearances in the Major Leagues, including 15 starts for the Phillies in 2017, followed by a split year in 2018 with the Phillies and Kansas City Royals. He made his last MLB appearance with Royals on April 28, 2019.

During the 2020 season heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Lively played for the Samsung Lions in the Korean Baseball League. He returned to Korea in 2021, before the Reds signed him as a free agent in January 2022.

Lively started last season strong with the Louisville Bats, before an injury sidelined him until late August. He finished the season with a 2-5 record and 4.09 earned run average in 18 starts.

Ben Lively made his debut with the Blue Wahoos on June 22, 2014 at Blue Wahoos Stadium. He was a rising Cincinnati Reds prospect then.Photo courtesy of Pensacola News Journal

The Reds invited Lively in February to their major league camp during spring training where he the first week before being reassigned to the minor league camp.

This season, he’s shined with a 4-0 record for Louisville with a 2.33 ERA in five starts. He has 10 walks, 16 strikeouts.

Lively will replace Luis Cessa in the Reds starting rotation. Cessa, a former reliever, had a 9.00 ERA in seven games for the Reds, allowing 26 runs in 26 innings.

The Reds are hoping Lively can assume the role as a No. 4 or No. 5 starter in their rotation.

Lively remains the only Pensacola area native to play for the Blue Wahoos. When he did so in 2014, Lively attracted large crowds and enthusiastic support. He made 13 starts with a 3.88 ERA. That year in Decemer, he was named winner of the Reds’ Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award as their minor league player of the year.

They traded LIvely three weeks later to get veteran MLB outfielder Marlon Byrd, who became a Reds starter in 2015, but did not finish the season with team. The Reds moved him before the trade deadline in 2015 in a deal with the San Francisco Giants.

Lively, meanwhile, advanced through the Phillies system to reach the big leagues and make his MLB debut in Philadelphia.