With the 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline now behind us there’s a little bit of new stuff going on with regards to the farm system. Cincinnati made three trades on the day with the Reds bringing in two prospects in two different deals with the Cleveland Guardians. In a third trade with St. Louis the Cardinals sent the club international bonus pool space that the Reds can spend (but not actual money is changing hands – just gives Cincinnati the “ability” to spend an extra $250,000). But along with that it was also announced by Nick Krall that they would also be calling up outfielder Hector Rodriguez from Triple-A Louisville.
Starting with Hector Rodriguez, it will be interesting to see where he fits in. Nathaniel Lowe vacates a lot of designated hitter time. Rodriguez is not the best defensive outfielder you’ll ever see. But neither is Noelvi Marte, and he’s played a whole lot of right field for Cincinnati in 2025 and 2026. Marte also hasn’t been doing much hitting in 2026. Maybe he gets moved into a bench role with Rodriguez taking over in the corner. But perhaps Rodriguez just starts taking some of the designated hitter starts and playing some left and right field.
Rodriguez, though, has always been known for his bat. With Louisville this season he’s hit .274/.347/.533 with 16 doubles, four triples, and 27 home runs. He’s already set career highs in walks (42), home runs, and RBI (69). The 22-year-old has more home runs this season than anyone in the organization, including guys in the big leagues (JJ Bleday would be next with 25 between Louisville and Cincinnati).
The left-handed swinging Rodriguez has been in a big slump of late. He hit two home runs in back-to-back games on July 7th and 8th. He then went 10-68 with one walk and 17 strikeouts for the next three weeks. Last night he broke out of that slump, going 4-5 with a double and a home run for the Bats.
There’s a few things that are noteworthy about Rodriguez and what he can and can’t do. Let’s start with some of the positives: He can hit the ball hard. He’s not tall, but he’s strong and his bat is quick. His ability to square up the baseball is quite good. He’s got a good arm in the field when he needs it. He has also made strides in how aggressive he is at the plate this season.
On the other side of that, though, is that he still expands the strikezone a bit more than you would like to see. And defensively he’s a bit of an enigma. No one is likely to ever say he’s a good outfielder, but some days he doesn’t look like a bad one, either. But a few times a month he will make (or not make in this case) a play on a ball that will leave you questioning if he’s ever been in the outfield before. He hasn’t always been an outfielder exclusively, but the last time he played on the infield was in 2022 and every year he’s been a professional he’s spent at least some time in the outfield.
You can see the career stats for Hector Rodriguez here.
Reds add pitcher Alejandro Rivera
In one of the deals made with Cleveland on Monday the Reds acquired right-handed pitching prospect Alejandro Rivera. The 19-year-old from Venezuela threw 48.0 innings for the Arizona Complex League Guardians this summer before being moved up after that season ended to Hill City in Single-A where he made one start before he was traded. He posted a 3.06 ERA between the two stops while walking 17 batters and striking out 70.
We only have one game of publicly available pitch tracking for Rivera. It came against the ACL Reds of all teams. The game was on June 17th when he allowed four runs in 4.0 innings on four hits, three walks, and he had seven strikeouts while facing 19 batters.
In the game he threw his fastball in the 90-92 MPH range and topped out at 93.5 MPH. He also threw a slider in the low 80’s and a change up in the low 80’s.
Baseball America had Rivera as the Guardians 30th rated prospect heading into the trade deadline. They noted he had been up to 95 with his fastball. They also ranked him as the 28th best prospect traded at the deadline this year.
You can see the career stats for Alejandro Rivera here.
Juan Brito acquired after being DFA’d
This afternoon Juan Brito was both designated for assignment and acquired by the Reds in a trade that saw Cincinnati send cash considerations to Cleveland in the deal.
The 24-year-old was a former Top 100 prospect, coming in at exactly #100 on the Baseball Prospectus list prior to the 2024 season. Since then he’s taken a step backwards in each of the years he’s played. He missed most of 2025 with multiple injuries, including requiring hamstring surgery that ended his season.
His return in 2026 did result in him reaching the big leagues where he he played in 15 games. But he only played in 15 games due to the fact that he hit .177/.250/.255 with 17 strikeouts. In Triple-A he did perform a little bit better with Columbus. Still, he wasn’t exactly hitting well as he posted a .237/.351/.394 line in 83 games. Brito walked 56 times with 62 strikeouts, but he didn’t find too many hits and he was only showing so-so power when he did get hits. The switch hitter was much better against lefties this year where his OPS was .814 and it was just .676 against lefties.
Defensively Brito has seen most of his time at second base in his career, but he has some limited experience at third base, first base, shortstop (last time was in 2024), and right field.
You can see the career stats for Juan Brito here.
What a bizarre deadline approach by Krall.
I guess if they want to see both Marte and HRod in the lineup, one can play RF and the other DH. That would mean Geno has to play 3B. I could see the lineup tomorrow be Elly, Sal, JJ, Tyler, HRod, Geno, Myers, Marte, MM with Trevino, Hayes, Johnson and Friedl off the bench.
Won’t this take him out of rookie of the year eligibility for next year? I mean, I know it’s a long shot, but I’ve heard the date is August 15th to where he would retain eligibility, why not wait 11 more days? What if he ends up hitting .270 with 30 HR next year? It just seems like an unforced error vs waiting another 11 days. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll still be eligible, but that’s what I heard.
September 1958 cost Vada Pinson the 1959 ROY award (or at least eligibility for it).
What’s it matter if it takes him out of ROY eligibility? He is not PPI eligible this year and unless you think he’s going to be a Top 100 prospect on two of three MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, or ESPN lists (he won’t be), he’s not PPI eligible next year, either. Keeping him in the minor leagues longer than necessary just so he can *maybe* win an award the next year doesn’t make much sense.
Wait a second, only top 100 prospects are PPI eligible? That’s completely asinine. 11 days isn’t a huge ask if it is the case.
Yes. You must be a Top 100 prospect on 2 or the 3 Top lists (at the beginning of the season) from Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline, and then also spend at least 172 days on the MLB roster in the year in which you win the ROY in order to get the PPI draft pick.
?
100% agree!
Awards don’t mean chit on a . 500 team.
I believe there is confusion between ROY and PPI. PPI is encourage teams that have talented minor league players to bring them up at the beginning of the year. Doug described how it is determined if you qualify for PPI. It is more than an award as there is a draft choice involved.
PPI should be for any prospect as long as they meet the stringent qualifications imo. Pretty much have to be on the big club all year for it.
But it’s not, though. Because teams don’t tend to play service time games with non-elite prospects. So that was probably a way to get it into the CBA.
Here’s to wishing Hector well. I think he will do fine if they let him play. There will be some growing pains – there always are. He is only 22 years old.
Glad to see him promoted but let’s see this for what it really is–a fig leaf to distract from this disastrous day. so let me get this straight I’m assuming they believe this team can go on a run and sneak into the playoffs… and so in-service of that goal they subtract two positive contributors from a last place team while watching every single team above them adding talent to their rosters. The cherry on top is not making a single move to improve this roster for next year…. or any year for that matter.
Astoundingly illogical. The Reds lead the league in stepping on rakes.
You’ve got it all wrong. You have to actually consider the position the Reds are in. They are sellers, in the sense that they aren’t actually competing this year. Sure, they may catch lightning in a bottle, but losing Lowe and Ferguson don’t really change that analysis. As sellers, the question is how do you use the trade deadline to make this team its best form for next year and beyond? You first must consider the assets they have to trade away. The minors are barren and the only expiring contracts they had left of not are Singer and Stephenson. The front office made the decision (the right decision if you ask me) that trying to keep both of them is the most helpful to the team. There is simply no catcher available to take Stephenson’s place. Sometimes the player you have that is on an expiring contract is the best one available. And catchers don’t grow on trees. So they hope to keep him. They will make Singer a qualifying offer, because again, quality starting pitching to eat innings and make quality starts don’t grow on trees. He will likely be the cheapest option in the offseason. And with no better options in the minors, he’s their choice. And if they don’t sign him, having made the QO, they will get a draft pick that is likely more valuable than anything they would get in return for a 2 month rental at the deadline.
It may not be glamorous, but they made the prudent moves with the assets they have. You just have to actually step back and think rationally to see it. Unfortunately, too many want to play armchair GM with monopoly money and no real world consequences, where everyone is available and for the cheapest price possible. And that’s fantasy, not reality.
I don’t think the FO believes this team will even be .500 at the end of the year.
I also don’t think it cares one way or another. Apparently there is no accountability for the FO so if a few fans complains, who cares?
I bet Phil doesn’t even care as long as he keeps pocketing all that subsidy money from the teams that do care.
Have you looked at the Sept schedule? This team will NOT be at or over .500 by years end.
Hector the hit collector deserves a promo, he needs some seasoning and best to continue the development by getting a cup of coffee (imo).
Lowe was on the table and the reds got a decent return on a rental. It also opened up a spot for Hector as Marte is floundering at the plate. We couldn’t be much worse in RF as is.
Seems like a good time to cut bait and DFA Friedl. Maybe he could hook on with another team.
The pop outs and weak fly balls have grown old.
Odd they waited for him to slump to bring him up. Still, he earned the chance and no one in front of him is performing.
I am going to hope that the front office got no good offers for Stephenson, Suarez, or Singer. But this seems to the be Reds MO, they never get talent in return for their aging talent, this how they stay in this cycle of mediocrity.
Two players traded so there are two open spots? One is being filled by HROD. Who is filling the other. Toglia makes the most sense. He is almost the same player as Lowe. Maybe Williamson fills the left handed pitching spot but not sure he has had enough time in the minors to work himself back.
If he is going to pitch relief, that means one inning at a time in this system.
That’s not really true, though. Plenty of relievers in the system will often be asked to get more than three outs.
I believe that it is Chase Petty.