While there have been cuts happening in big league camp for almost two weeks at this point, the first cuts from minor league camp started this week. And unlike the cuts in big league camp where guys are just sent to the minor league side of things, guys cut from minor league camp no longer have jobs and are released from the organization. The first round of cuts was just two players – Matt Lloyd and Jamal O’Guinn.
The Cincinnati Reds picked up Matt Lloyd in the 15th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. Lloyd pitched in relief at Indiana where he posted a 2.21 ERA in 49 games from 2017-2019 and never allowed a home run in his 72.1 innings on the mound. The Reds, however, preferred him at the plate (he played in the outfield as well as at first base and a little bit of second and third). In college he hit .284/.379/.526, hitting 17 home runs in his final season with the Hoosiers.
Matt Lloyd was 23-years-old when he was drafted, so the time for him to move up the chain was a bit more limited than guys who were drafted a bit younger. In his first season back in 2019 he split time between Billings and Dayton – which at the time was the Low-A affiliate of the Reds. He hit .236/.328/.437 that season. When he got back on the field in 2021 it took him a while to do so as he missed the first half of the year. In late July he returned and joined Double-A and in the final 32 games of the year with the Chattanooga Lookouts he hit .235/.333/.480 with seven home runs. Last year he returned to Double-A Chattanooga and spent the first month there, hitting .187/.291/.333 before a leg injury (one that eventually would lead to surgery) cost him the rest of the season.
The other player released was outfielder Jamal O’Guinn. He was undrafted in 2021 and signed with the Reds on July 21st, but he didn’t take the field until late April of 2022. O’Guinn got out to a solid start, hitting .262/.405/.390 in the first 45 games of the season. But he went into a slump starting on June 23rd and didn’t really get things going again, hitting .125/.232/.194 over the final 25 games that he played in. That slump dropped his season line to .216/.350/.324 in 70 games played.
More like a scratch.