Five players who spent time with the Cincinnati Reds in 2023 have elected to become minor league free agents. Pitchers Kevin Herget, Michael Mariot, and Alec Mills opted to test the free agent waters. Infielders Alejo Lopez and Matt Reynolds also elected minor league free agency.
The playing time in the big leagues for the position guys was extremely limited. Alejo Lopez played in one game and went 1-2 with a double, run, and an RBI with Cincinnati. Matt Reynolds played in two games and went 1-5 with a run.
While in Triple-A both Alejo Lopez and Matt Reynolds found plenty of success in their own ways. After a bit of a slow start for Lopez, he picked up steam by midseason and wound up getting on base in 70 of the final 72 games of the season. During his 125 games with the Bats he hit .292/.401/.410 with 18 steals, 79 walks, and just 76 strikeouts.
Reynolds time with Louisville went well. He played in 115 games in Triple-A this past season and hit .266/.352/.514. That came with 38 doubles, 3 triples, 22 home runs, and 90 RBI. He also went 8-for-8 in stolen base attempted.
On the pitching side of things two of the three pitchers also saw very limited action. Michael Mariot and Alec Mills both saw action in just one game. Mariot allowed a run in 2.2 innings during his outing. Mills only threw one inning and gave up two earned runs. But Kevin Herget spent some real time with the big league team. He pitched in 14 games and finished out seven of them while picking up a save. In his 24.1 innings he had a 5.18 ERA while walking six and striking out 13.
In the minors things were a bit of a mixed bag. After signing out of indy ball, Michael Mariot got out to a good start with the Bats as he posted a 2.63 ERA in 27.1 innings over his five five games. Things went south after that, though, as he allowed 29 earned runs in his final 24.0 innings of the season.
Alec Mills didn’t sign with the Reds until the middle of May, but didn’t show up with Triple-A Louisville until the middle of June. He battled inconsistency in his 10 games (seven starts) and wound up with a 6.58 ERA for the Bats in 26.0 innings.
Kevin Herget’s ERA on the season with Louisville was 5.13. That, for the most part, is due to two outings. He allowed nine earned runs – a third of the runs he allowed on the season – in back-to-back outings on June 13th and June 18th. From that point forward in the season his ERA was 3.12 for the Bats and he threw 34.2 innings during that stretch.