The rookie league season is barely over a week old, but there’s already a few interesting things happening out in Goodyear. With the elimination of one of the Dominican Summer League teams, the AZL Reds have sort of become the team that’s replaced that squad. It’s a step up in competition for these guys, and early on, some are showing that they are ready for the challenge early on.
Danny Lantigua only played in 17 games last year with the DSL Reds. He missed most of the season in 2017, only playing the final day of July and then during the month of August. He hit just .200/.250/.317 as an 18-year-old. This season he was brought stateside and he’s played in seven games thus far with the AZL Reds. Things have gone quite a bit better for the outfielder. He’s currently hitting .269/.333/.654 on the season. He’s already matched his totals last season for doubles and triples, and he’s topped his home run total, too. Lantigua has walked three times in the week since the season began, too. He walked four times last year in his 17 games played.
In Greeneville there’s also a player that’s jumped out in terms of his performance thus far. And like Lantigua, he only played in 17 games last season. Nate Scantlin, the Reds 15th round selection out of Rose Hill High School in Kansas, has been on fire. The 19-year-old left-handed hitter is 10-24 on the season. That’s good for a .417 average. He’s also drawn four walks on the season, boosting his on-base percentage to .500 for the first week of the year.
In the northwest, Reshard Munroe has been beating up on the Pioneer League. The 22-year-old played in one game with the Dayton Dragons on June 15th, where he went 1-2 with two walks and two steals. The Bahamas native then went to join the Billings Mustangs, and he’s just kept on hitting. In seven games with the Mustangs he’s hitting .440/.481/.480 with a double, two walks and two more steals.
Jose Siri heating up
The Cincinnati Reds promoted Jose Siri to Double-A Pensacola earlier this week. His final three games in Daytona saw the outfielder go 5-13 with a double and a triple. In his first game with Pensacola he went 0-3 with 3 strikeouts. Later that day he would pinch hit in the second game of a double header, going 1-1. He’s homered in each of the three games since. Over that eight game stretch he’s hit .345/.387/.759.