Earlier this week Mike Ford used the opt-out clause in his contract. That gave the Reds several days to make the decision on whether or not to call him up to this big leagues or to give him his outright release. Jon Heyman of MLB Network is reporting that the Reds are choosing to release him rather than call him up. Update: The Reds made it official and have granted Ford his release.

Since the start of April, Mike Ford hit .325/.412/.590 with four doubles, six home runs, two steals, 12 walks, and 18 strikeouts in 97 plate appearances. That’s pretty good. He’s also coming off of a year in Seattle where he had a 121 OPS+ and hit 16 home runs in about half of a season’s worth of playing time.

The Cincinnati Reds offense has been struggling of late. Last night they had two hits and both of them belonged to Elly De La Cruz, who seems to be the only player on the club who has been hitting for the last few weeks.

Nick Martini, who homered twice on Opening Day, got out to a quick start in the three games in March. Since the calendar flipped over to April he’s hit .147/.164/.221 with one walk and 21 strikeouts.

Bubba Thompson has hit so poorly that he’s made Martini’s line look good. Thompson, who has rarely been asked to hit, is 2-18 this season with a double, no walks, and 11 strikeouts while posting a .278 OPS. Unlike Martini, Thompson brings defensive and baserunning abilities to the table as a bench player.

The Reds choosing to release Mike Ford while keeping both of those players on the big league roster leaves one scratching their head a bit. While Mike Ford can’t play the outfield and is strictly a first base/designated hitter type, the team has enough outfield depth that it wouldn’t likely matter if you only used Ford as a pinch hitter or designated hitter. And the team certainly could have used the offensive boost that he almost assuredly would have provided over either Martini or Thompson at this point.