Edit: The Reds made their choice about 25 minutes after this went live. De Jesus was sent to the minor leagues.
The Cincinnati Reds came into spring training looking to fill out their bench with a few new players. Brennan Boesch would seem to be a lock on one of the spots. With Skip Schumaker, Kristopher Negron and Brayan Pena also seemingly having spots locked up, that would leave one spot up for grabs.
At this point in time it would seem that it’s down to two guys: Chris Dominguez and Ivan De Jesus Jr. Both guys have an OPS over 1.000 this spring. Here are the stats for the two so far:
| Player | AB | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Ivan De Jesus Jr. | 32 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | .406 | .486 | .625 | 1.111 |
| Chris Dominguez | 50 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 14 | .340 | .346 | .660 | 1.006 |
The two guys could probably be a little more different, but not by much. Let’s take a look at the profile for each guy.
Ivan De Jesus Jr.
De Jesus was drafted in the second round of the 2005 draft out of Puerto Rico. He was one of the Dodgers top prospects for years and was once a Top 100 prospect in minor league baseball. In his minor league career he’s hit .298/.369/.395. He’s never hit double digit home runs in a season. He’s had 80 plate appearances in the big leagues, back in 2011 and 2012 with the Dodgers and the Red Sox. In that time he hit .205.
He’s known as a quality fielder up the middle and he’s also had time at third base to go with plenty of time at shortstop and second base.
In the minor leagues he’s shown quality plate discipline, walking 52 times with 85 strikeouts in the 2014 season at the Triple-A level.
Chris Dominguez
Dominguez was drafted three times, finally signing as a 3rd rounder in the 2009 draft. His highest ranking in the Giants system was as their 15th best prospect after the 2010 season. For his minor league career he’s hit .269/.309/.436. His top home run total in the minors is 21, which he’s done in 2010 and in 2014. He made his big league debut in 2014 with the Giants going 1-17 with his only hit being a home run.
While he has played some shortstop in the minor leagues, he’s spent the majority of his career at third base. He’s also seen time in the corner outfield spots and at first base as well. Dominguez has a big arm, but he has very limited range even at third base and he’s had some error problems at the position.
His plate discipline has been poor throughout his career. He’s had 128 minor league walks to go with 702 career strikeouts, including 23 walks and 147 strikeouts in 2014 between Triple-A and the Major Leagues.
Who wins out
The local media seems to believe that Chris Dominguez is the favorite to take the final spot on the roster. His power is real, and he’s hitting .340 this spring. At the same time he’s got one walk and 14 strikeouts, incredibly similar to his minor league numbers that suggest he’s going to swing at nearly anything thrown plateward. Mixed in with his struggles on defense it would be his power as the big asset that would get him the job. Ivan De Jesus is hitting .406 and he’s leading the team in OPS this spring, but hardly anyone is talking about him at all. He’s walked more than he’s struck out and he’s a strong defender all around the infield. De Jesus doesn’t have the power that Dominguez brings, but he would likely provide a stronger ability to come off the bench and give you hits and play stronger defense. Both players are right handed hitting infielders, so they are similar in that nature, but that is where the comparison stops. One guy is an all-or-nothing power hitter with questionable defense while the other is more of a contact oriented hitter who provides defensive value.