The Cincinnati Reds have lost several players to minor league free agency this month. Last week Matt Reynolds, Alejo Lopez, Michael Mariot, Alec Mills, and Kevin Herget all elected free agency. This week Silvino Bracho, Brett Kennedy, Alan Busenitz, Justin Dunn, and Henry Ramos also chose to become free agents. Lopez has already signed with another team, signing a minor league deal with Atlanta.
Not all players have the option to have become minor league free agents yet. When the World Series is over a lot more players will officially become minor league free agents.
AFL Updates
The Surprise Saguaros game was available to watch on Thursday night. I’ll understand if you didn’t watch it because you were watching Nick Castellanos crush two homers as the Phillies beat Atlanta to advance to the National League Championship Series.
Only one Reds position player got an at-bat in the game. Austin Callahan went 1-4 with a 2-run triple. It was his first hit of the fall league. Jacob Hurtubise entered the game as a defensive substitution in the bottom of the 9th inning.
On the mound there were two Reds prospects on the night. Jayvien Sandridge entered the game in the 3rd inning with a runner on and no outs. He tossed a perfect inning with two strikeouts and stranded the runner.
That was the third outing for Sandridge, but the first in nearly a week for the lefty. He now has thrown 3.1 shutout innings without a walk and with four strikeouts. Thursday night’s game had Hawkeye installed at the stadium, so we got some pitch tracking data. Sandridge threw just 10 pitches on the night. His seven fastballs averaged 95.1 MPH, topping out at 96.2 MPH. He also threw three sliders in the low 80’s. He had one swing and miss on each, and added in four called strikes on his fastball.
Zach Maxwell entered the game for the 7th inning. He allowed a run on a walk and a triple, striking out two batters along the way. It was also his third appearance for Surprise. He’s had multiple strikeouts in each game and now has seven to go along with four hits allowed and three walks in his 4.0 innings pitched. Maxwell’s given up two earned runs (4.50 ERA) in his time in Arizona thus far.
It was the second time that Maxwell has pitched with the pitch tracking running out in Arizona. On Thursday night he averaged 98.1 MPH with his 4-seamer and 99.0 with his 2-seamer. He topped out at 100.2 MPH. He also threw his cutter/slider 13 times in the game and averaged 88.7 MPH. He had three swings and misses on it and one on his 4-seamer.