The Cincinnati Reds announced that Cuban shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez would begin his professional career in the Dominican Summer League nine days ago. Yesterday morning he took the field for the first time as the DSL Reds hit the road against the DSL White Sox and was slotted in the 3rd spot in the lineup.
In his first trip to the plate he had a runner on first base, but he struck out swinging. In the second at-bat he led off the fourth inning and grounded out to the shortstop. He came up two innings later and singled on a line drive to left field. In the eighth inning he returned to the dish and hit a sacrifice fly. Rodriguez would come to the plate one more time in the top of the 9th inning and he singled to center field to put runners on the corners.
On the defensive side of the ball, things were far more quiet. The slick fielding shortstop only had to field two balls in the entire game and both of them were pop ups.
If Alfredo Rodriguez can go out and rack up two hits every game, he will prove to be a real steal for the Reds. Kidding of course. While Rodriguez is the second oldest player on the DSL Reds roster, he’s been off the field in competitive games for over a year. It’s nice to see him get out to a strong start at the plate.
In the other Dominican Summer League game, center fielder Mariel Bautista extended his hitting streak to 14 games. The 18-year-old Dominican native is now hitting .366/.430/.491 with seven doubles, two triples and a home run in 29 games. He’s shown big improvements over his 2015 season with the Rojos where he hit just .259/.350/.388. His strikeout rate has dropped from 21.6% to 14.1% over the last year.