Hitting for the cycle is cool. Heck, it’s better than cool. But it’s got a cool name for how unique it is, not necessarily how impressive it is. Don’t get me wrong – it’s impressive. It requires four hits and at least 10 total bases in the game. That’s impressive and it’s valuable. But sometimes guys have better games than that and that’s exactly what happened on Monday for Cincinnati Reds prospect Adrian Reyes for the Dominican Summer League Reds.
Reyes, an 18-year-old outfielder, went 4-4 for two doubles, a triple, a home run, and a walk in Monday’s game. Two doubles is better than a double and a single, but that cost him the cool headline of “Reyes hits for the cycle!”.
With games beginning at 11:00am, the DSL Reds have already completed their game on Tuesday as I type this. Reyes went 1-2 with a triple and a walk. That’s just a continuation of a real interesting season. Reyes is now 12-52 on the year in 17 games. That’s a .231 batting average. But he’s also hit five doubles, three triples, and two home runs. You read that correctly – 10 of his 12 hits this season have been extra-base hits. He’s also walked 24 times (though he’s also struck out 21 times). All of that production together has led to a .231/.468/.558 line.
Sheng-En Lin activated in the DSL
In a surprise move yesterday, the Reds activated Sheng-En Lin and placed him on the Dominican Summer League roster. Last week I provided an update on when he was expected to be activated and at the time I was told it would be around mid-July. As you can tell, it’s not mid-July. I’ve been told that since I got my initial information that Sheng-En Lin requested to begin playing sooner and the club made that happen.
Signed for $1,200,000 earlier this month out of Taiwan early in the month. Viewed by some as a better pitching prospect than position prospect, the Reds signed him as a position player with the outlook that he could be either a shortstop or center fielder. Some reports have said that the team may let him pitch at some point, too. I have not been told that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen.
Reds top signings continue to rake
Over the last two international signing periods the Cincinnati Reds have landed a player who was among the top three rated prospects in baseball each season. In 2022 it was infielder Ricardo Cabrera and this year it was Alfredo Duno. It’s still early in the 2023 season, but so far it’s tough to imagine things going better for either guy at the plate.
Alfredo Duno picked up three hits on Tuesday morning/early afternoon for the DSL Reds in their win. Through his first 11 games as a professional he’s now hitting .351/.519/.514 with three doubles, a home run, a steal, 12 walks, nine strikeouts, 12 runs, and 13 RBI. Last night saw Ricardo Cabrera pick up a hit and a walk in the ACL Reds win. That pushed his line on the season to .333/.469/.529 with 11 walks and 10 strikeouts in 14 games this season. He’s had three doubles, two triples, a home run, and stolen four bases.
The success of Cabrera and Duno is really a great sign of the effectiveness of the club’s international program. I do think Valdez and Almonte also are talented, and are still so young that it’s not unprecedented for them to scuffle in their first shots at full season ball, especially in those Florida parks. And the guys who are a bit lower profile, like Balcazar, Jorge, Sanchez, and some guy named De la Cruz are significant successes. Even a guy like Minier who was simply erased when compared to the overall influx of talent was a decent signing. One factor I especially like is acquiring other teams’ high profile international talent via the fire sales — nothing like having rosters with more of these guys rather than less, or few at all. A good pilfering is always welcome.
Now if only we had more pitching close to ready. Time to wheel and deal, Nick
i don’t want to see a reversal of a Sonny gray or Tyler Mahle trades where the Reds give up top talent for Middle of the rotation starters.
Doug – I recall your commenting a while ago about the level of play in the DSL-vis-ASL, and that most of the guys in the DSL are high school age/brand new pro prospects, which certainly concentrates the talent.
What then is the ASL level? Is it close to the original Pioneer league-rookie level, or the current Pioneer league, lower level affiliated pro-ball? Or is it just some odd hybrid of MLB level facility, controlled rehab settings, higher level prospects?
Asking price on pitching will be very high. I’d go the low quality high volume approach a while longer but to do that they need more volume. Phillips might need a call up in the next two weeks. Get Aguilar moving. Richardson. Greene will be back soon. Flexen, if not traded, will be a valued FA.
By low quality, I didn’t mean Phillips, and the rest of our guys, thinking low quality Indy league, waiver wire, salary dump players. Maybe Mike Leake wants a revival. Call Homer, call Hamels.
We don’t need to trade prospects for average pitchers. Competitive in 2024 was the goal. If the Reds win this year great but don’t empty the farm. Stop being impatient. That said if you get young controllable top level pitching talent trade some prospects.