Nick Senzel, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect, continued his torrid month of August on Tuesday night. At home for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos the third baseman went 1-2 with 2 walks and a 2-run home run. The home run was his 14 of the season and 10th with the Blue Wahoos in 55 games played.
After a big month of July where Nick Senzel posted an OPS of .989, he’s taken things up to 11 in August. Over the span of 20 games in the month the 22-year-old has hit .329/.424/.630 with four doubles and six home runs. He’s also walked 12 times to go with 13 strikeouts and four steals during the month.
For the season Nick Senzel is hitting .316/.385/.511 with 40 doubles, three triples and 14 home runs. That’s come between the Advanced-A Daytona Tortugas and the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He’s performed better with Pensacola than Daytona despite the competition being better. The Florida State League generally suppresses offensive output, and that certainly could be the case here. Still, you don’t often see a guy get a promotion to Double-A and increase his OPS by over 100 points.
Reds sign a pitcher from the Mexican League
The Cincinnati Reds have signed right handed pitcher Daniel De La Fuenta out of the Mexican League. The 20-year-old was playing with the Toros de Tijuana. His action was rather limited as he appeared in just three games with the Toros in 2017. Over that span he threw 4.0 shutout innings with a walk and six strikeouts. While he didn’t get much time on the mound with the Toros during the summer, he has pitched quite well in what appears to be a “minor league” version of the Mexican Winter League over the previous two seasons.
According to a local report out of Tijauna, here’s what Reds scout Hector Otero had to say about Daniel De La Fuenta:
We have been following Daniel for two years, he is very mature for the age he has, he looks postured on the mound and without fear, he looks like a veteran, he has always shown that he has the ability to throw strikes.”
Cincinnati’s plan for De La Fuente is to send it to the organization’s facility in Goodyear, Arizona to prepare physically prior to the start of the Reds’ spring camp in March.
The Toros roster is full of former Reds. Carlos Fisher, Mark Serrano, Pedro Villarreal and Jorge Cantu are among a nice roster full of former big leaguers.