Former Canisius baseball player Ryan Fennell has signed a minor-league contract with the Cincinnati Reds and will report to the club's affiliate in the Arizona Rookie League.

The 6-foot-4 righthander appeared in 45 career games with the Golden Griffins, making a career-high 17 appearances during his sophomore season in 2010. Fennell threw two scoreless innings of relief in his final appearance of the 2012 season, which came against Niagara University in the last game of the regular season. Fennell had 11 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched in 2012 and averaged 9.42 strikeouts per nine innings in his last 14.2 innings pitched.

The Pittsford, N.Y. native becomes the first member of the Golden Griffin Class of 2012 to sign with a Major League Baseball franchise. Canisius had six players selected in the MLB Draft in the previous three seasons.

Fennell graduated from Canisius in 2012 with a degree in marketing.