The Arizona Fall League rosters are out and the Cincinnati Reds are sending eight players to participate this year. And it’s about as “prospect” heavy as a group as I can recall. Pitchers Connor Phillips, Jose Acuna, Luis Mey, Carson Rudd, and Arij Fransen will get some additional innings in before the year is up. Infielders Edwin Arroyo, Tyler Callihan, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand will also be heading to Arizona to get some more playing time.
Teams can and do utilize the Arizona Fall League for several things. Some guys get out there to make up for lost time due to injury. Some guys are sent out there so their organizations can get one last look at them before they have to decide on whether or not they will add them to the 40-man roster in November or leave them unprotected for December’s Rule 5 draft. There are some players who will go there to learn or work on a new position, or even a specific aspect of their game that the club is looking for them to improve on. And for some guys it’s just additional playing time at a higher level in order to prepare them for that next step.
Cincinnati appears to be doing a lot of the “making up for lost time” with this group. Five of the eight players they are sending out there missed significant time in 2024.
We’ll start with Edwin Arroyo. He injured his shoulder in spring training and needed surgery. The Reds 5th ranked prospect didn’t play in any regular season games this year as he recovered from the surgery, but did join in on some games in Goodyear during instructional league.
No one else missed the entire season, but Christian Encarnacion-Strand did miss most of it. Technically he’s not a “prospect” by definition as he has too many big league at-bats, but he was put on the injured list in early May and never returned. When exactly he was injured is unknown. A wrist injury had been bothering him and after several examinations it was determined that he had a previously undiscovered wrist injury that had been undiagnosed. Eventually he opted for season-ending surgery and only played in 29 games during the year.
Connor Phillips didn’t deal with any injuries, but his performance was so poor that after 14 starts and an ERA of 10.11, Cincinnati made the decision to send Phillips back to Goodyear to re-work some things. He wouldn’t pitch in games for just over two months before returning to Triple-A. While there were still some ups-and-downs in his five starts after he came back, he performed well as he gave up six runs in 21.2 innings (2.49 ERA) and had 10 walks with 24 strikeouts. His final outing of the year saw him strike out nine batters without a walk in six innings.
Jose Acuna missed the first six weeks of the year. He then missed another six weeks in the middle of the season. When he was on the mound he was limited in how much he was used, never throwing more than four innings in an outing, and he only did that two times out of his 15 appearances. He pitched well for Double-A Chattanooga, allowing just two earned runs in 22.1 innings with six walks and 26 strikeouts. But he struggled in the final month when he was promoted to Triple-A. With the Bats he allowed 14 runs in 12.2 innings on 23 hits and four walks while striking out just 10 of the 65 hitters he faced.
Tyler Callihan also missed a large part of the season. He had been out to a slow start in 2024, but he started heating up in late May. Unfortunately for him his season came to a stop on June 3rd when he headed to the injured list. He wouldn’t return for nine weeks, but he picked up right where he left off. Over the first 37 games of his season he hit .202/.280/.351. In the other 36 games he played during the year he hit .354/.439/.512.
Luis Mey is one of, if not the hardest thrower in the organization. It’s either him or Zach Maxwell – both of whom routinely throw 100+ MPH. He began the year in Dayton and posted a 2.79 ERA in 29.0 innings where he didn’t give up a home run, walked 24, and struck out 36. He was then promoted to Double-A right before the All-Star break. With the Lookouts he threw 26.0 more innings and had a 4.15 ERA. He didn’t give up a home run there, either, and he walked 19 batters to go along with 27 strikeouts.
Carson Rudd spent his entire year with Chattanooga. He made five starts and pitched in relief 28 times. In total he threw 77.0 innings with a 3.04 ERA, four home runs allowed, had 57 walks, and had 85 strikeouts. Rudd held opponents to a .292 slugging percentage during the season, but his high walk rate was the one area that held him back at times.
Arij Fransen spent nearly all of his 2024 with Dayton. He would make one appearance in Louisville when they needed someone to step in for them. In his 30 relief appearances for the Dragons he posted a 3.86 ERA in 67.2 innings pitched. He allowed just one home run on the year, walked 37 batters, and he had 55 strikeouts.
The team will have two pitching coaches. One of those coaches will be Brian Garman, who was the Dayton Dragons pitching coach in 2024.
The Arizona Fall League begins on October 7th, but the Reds prospects won’t get on the field until Tuesday October 8th as the Glendale Desert Dogs (the team that Cincinnati will be a part of this year) host Peoria. The league comes to an end on November 16th with the championship game.
Over the last few years there have been games streamed online for fans to watch through MLB.com. Not every game is available. Last year when the schedule initially came out there were eight games throughout the season that featured Surprise (who was the Reds team last fall), but more games were added as the season progressed and it wound up being 12 games in total that were available. The schedule for broadcasts is not yet available this year, but I would expect something similar to last season (Glendale had 14 games broadcast last season, just as a comparison).