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    Reds acquire pitching prospect Ovis Portes from Boston

    Doug Gray 16

    The Cincinnati Reds have acquired right-handed pitching prospect Ovis Portes from the Boston Red Sox that saw reliever Lucas Sims moved in the deal to the American League East. Portes was ranked as the Red Sox #29 prospect in Baseball America’s midseason update.

    The 2024 season is the first one for Ovis Portes in the US and only his third season of professional baseball. The now 19-year-old spent both 2022 and 2023 in the Dominican Summer League, though he missed most of the 2023 season.

    Reportedly the first professional player ever signed out of Antigua and Barbuda, Ovis Portes made his way to the US this spring and began his 2024 season with the Red Sox complex league team in Florida. He pitched in four games there before he was promoted after not giving up a run in 13.0 innings and striking out 16 batters.

    Things haven’t been quite as good in Salem, but he was still finding plenty of success. He made five starts and two relief appearances there before the trade. In his 21.0 innings there he allowed 17 hits and had 25 strikeouts to go along with a 3.43 ERA. He did, however, walk 15 and hit two others.

    Ovis Portes Scouting Report

    Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Portes burst onto the prospect radar this year when he came out sitting 94-96 MPH and touching 99 with his fastball after throwing in the low 90’s in the past. The lean 6′ 4″ righty has well above-average velocity with the fastball, but he is also throwing a slider and a change up. It’s the slider that has the most potential of those two offerings, flashing itself as an above-average pitching. The change up is well below-average at this point.

    He’s going to need further development (of course, he’s just 19-years-old and only has 60.2 career innings) of all of his offerings, but it’s what he can do with regards to his control and his change up that are likely to determine whether he’s going to be a starter or a reliever down the line.

    With his frame having plenty of room to fill out, there’s a chance he can continue to add some velocity into the future, which could make things really interesting.

    Ovis Portes Career Stats

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    16 Responses

        1. Doug, As an FYI – number 66 draft pick Tyler Bell (SS) did not sign with Tampa Bay and is headed to college (UK). One of two picks in the first 10 rounds that did not sign their MLB contract

    3. Had to check. English is the primary language in Antigua and Barbuda, with Antiguan Creole also spoken.

      1. Wonder where he played to be originally scouted? Obviously, it is not a hotbed of talent.

        Guess it is true that if you are good enough, they will find you.

        1. I originally saw the part about how he was the only guy from Antigua and Barbuda at SoxProspects.com. I didn’t look too long, but did some searching around google and couldn’t find it anywhere else after about 20 minutes of looking. I did find plenty of stuff about his participation in the Caribbean Little League World Series, though. Maybe he stood out there and an agent/someone helped him out from there until he was eligible to sign.

        2. And, if he is of French Creole descent, he could be our second such player, behind Blake Trahan.

    4. It seems he has pretty good stuff. He’s only 19 going to play in pitcher-friendly single-A Florida league with Daytona, I guess. I think his ETA is about 2027…

    5. Of the system’s big arms in the bullpen, Porvis now slots in behind Laureano, who slots in behind Mey, who slots in behind Maxwell, who slots in behind (probably) Santillan. And Diaz, of course.

      1. Ovis Portes. We may have to practice that. I’ve misspelled it a couple times today, too! Keep wanting to call him Porvis. Ovis Portes. ;)

    6. I like this trade better than the Montas trade because at least with Portes you get a very small chance of something special vs a more probable chance of something ordinary. Give me that lottery ticket!

      Portes is sitting mid 90’s and touching upper 90’s while very lean with his 6’4″ frame, add some muscle over the next couple of years and there is room for that to grow still. The Reds prefer to take guys with a solid fastball/breaking ball combo and teach them a changeup based on what they’ve done in the past, so this is no difference. Like Serwinowski this year, I expect they will have Portes’ age 20 season in Daytona again and work him as a starter until he shows that it isn’t going to happen. The slider looks good enough that you maybe have a future closer if starting doesn’t work out.

      1. I see your lotto pick point and agree.

        But, on the other hand, Weimer has only had around 400 major league at bats. And, the hitting coach at Louisville, Alex Pelaez, was at Chattanooga last season and helped Rece Hinds turn his season around.

        Weimer is also just 25 this year (February). In comparison, Hurtubise turns 27 in December, Dunn turns 26 in September, Hinds turns 24 in September (Dunn and Hinds were both born on September 5th), and Benson turned 26 in June.

        As far as Weimer’s prototype, he’s been comped a bit to Will Benson, as a big, tall guy with power, speed (and K’s), who is best in a corner but can fill in at CF. But BA had his arm rated as an 80 (!), so given that and being a RH hitter, his best comp may be Rece Hinds. Buy one, get one. There are certainly some large tools to work with.

    7. It was interesting to hear that of the people leaving that Sims was the one most emotional. He had to know with his contract situation it was a real possibility. I understand he had been there a while.

      1. I agree. But I think if you look at where he was when he arrived, a little lost, having been traded away by the Braves, to now, that he sort of found himself and his identity as a pretty decent major league reliever.

    8. Might the player to be named a Baltimore Draft Pick from earlier this month? Not really sure how those rules work with the most recent Player Agreement.

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