The Cincinnati Reds have called up Brandon Dixon from Triple-A Louisville. He will be taking the place on the 25-man roster of Rosell Herrera, who was optioned back to Triple-A earlier today (and even played in the Bats game earlier today).
Brandon Dixon was crushing the ball for the Louisville Bats in 2018. After nearly making the 25-man roster out of spring training, the Reds opted to send him to the minors. The 26-year-old put the demotion behind him and hit .326/.371/.527 with eight stolen bases in 37 games played. He did walk just nine times, and he did have 38 strikeouts in that span.
Defensively, Brandon Dixon can play a lot of positions. As a backup he could step in and handle first base, second base, third base, left field, and right field. He’s even had some time in center in the past, but that’s probably a stretch in the Majors. Still, he can handle a lot of spots on the field, and gives you plenty of options.
When you mix in all of the positions he can play along with the power in his bat, and underrated speed on the bases, he could be a very useful player off of the Cincinnati Reds bench. Of course, the same thing could have been said of Rosell Herrera, who got two starts in nearly a full month with the big league club. Hopefully Brandon Dixon can find a bit more playing time than Herrera saw.
And just for fun, here’s a 452 foot home run that Brandon Dixon hit on May 11th for the Louisville Bats.
Nick Senzel Update
There’s not a ton to report on Nick Senzel, but Reds General Manager Nick Krall did have a little bit of an update yesterday with local sports talk host Lance McAllister. Here’s what he had to say when asked about an update on the Reds top prospect:
I don’t have an exact timetable, but yeah, he’s gone back to Arizona and resumed baseball activities. That’s first and foremost, making sure that he’s healthy, that he’s ready to play. That he’s as healthy as possible before we start him playing baseball again. Having him resume baseball activities is definitely moving in a positive direction.
That’s good news. At the same time, it’s worded like Nick Senzel hasn’t yet played in games out in Goodyear. While I wouldn’t expect him to spend much time playing games in extended spring training once he does get on the field, it hasn’t happened yet.