Last week there were a slew of players who were placed on either the 60-day injured list in the minor leagues or the full season injured list in the minor leagues. In the last few days a few more players were on the transactions log and wound up on the 60-day injured list. And one player was released.
Let’s start with the release of Joel Valdez. This move is a bit surprising. After being a minor league Rule 5 draft pick in December of 2024 he broke out in Double-A last season where he threw 45.2 innings with a 1.38 ERA for Chattanooga. He struggled a bit in a late season call up to Triple-A, but overall he still pitched well on the year. Following the season he was a free agent, but re-signed with the Reds on a minor league deal and got an invite to big league camp. He never got into a game and was dealing with a shoulder injury that at the start of camp was only supposed to have him shut down for a few weeks.
That seemed to have changed because on March 19th he was placed on the 60-day injured list in the minor leagues. A week later, though, he was released and became a free agent. Tough to make a lot of sense there given that he showed quality stuff last season and the placement on the 60-day injured list implied that the team thought it was possible he could pitch this year.
Two pitchers were placed on the 60-day injured list this past week, too. Righty Shawn Guilliams and lefty Logan Van Treeck were moved there 10 days after the big set of similar moves.
For Guilliams he is still looking to make his professional debut. He was drafted in the 11th round of 2021. He’s spent every day of the regular season on the injured list ever since. Van Treeck was the club’s 9th round pick in 2023. The lefty didn’t pitch in 2023 after the draft and then missed the entire 2024 season. Last season he opened the year with Daytona but pitched in just two games before an injury on April 9th and he missed the rest of the season.
Prospects in the big leagues
Two important things happened on Monday night in Cincinnati for guys who are top 20 prospects in the organization. Let’s first talk about Reds #18 prospect Jose Franco making his big league debut. Franco followed Chase Burns (who picked up his first big league win) and pitched 1.2 shutout innings. He threw 35 pitches and 23 of those were strikes. The righty didn’t walk anyone or strike anyone out.
Franco showed a 3-pitch mix in his outing. He threw his fastball 18 times and 13 of those went for strikes. The pitch topped out at 96.9 MPH on the night. He leaned on the slider a lot, too, throwing 13 of them and eight of those went down for strikes. The change up was thrown four times and two were strikes.
And then there’s #2 prospect Sal Stewart. He won the National League Player of the Week award for his series against the Boston Red Sox when he hit .700 with four extra-base hits. In the series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night he went 1-2 with two more walks. He did pick up his first strikeout of the season in the game, too, but now has five walks against just one strikeout in 17 plate appearances this season.
But what makes his night all the more noteworthy is that he became the youngest player to ever reach base safely three or more times in each of his team’s first four games since at least 1900. Sarah Langs of MLB.com also noted that he did so at 22 years and 113 days old and that no one else has accomplished that one before turning 24. Stewart is also only the 4th Reds player to do that regardless of age (Kal Daniels in 1988, Joe Morgan in 1975, and Ival Goodman in 1937).