The Dominican Winter League is still a little more than two weeks away from getting started, but the teams began their preseason camps on Friday. Teams will start playing some preseason games next week before the season begins on October 16th. Not every team shared all of those who have shown up on day one to participate, but of the teams that did the only Cincinnati Reds prospect among the group was outfielder Arnaldo Lantigua, who is with the Cibao Giants.
Being invited to the preseason camp doesn’t mean that a player will actually make the team or play when the regular season begins. For Lantigua, who was selected in the draft last September (2025) by Cibao in the 3rd round, his next game in the Dominican Winter League will be his first. Still just 20-years-old, it’s not a surprise that he hasn’t had an opportunity to play yet. But he got some more experience under his belt this season with Daytona.
He hit .251/.371/.418 overall for Daytona in 94 games. He also spent a short period of time in the Arizona Complex League where he put up an OPS of 1.019 in 14 games. But things after his return to the Florida State League with Daytona were much different than before he made a short trip to Arizona.
On May 14th he was hitting just .238/.338/.325 for the Tortugas. That was the final day he played for them before heading out to the complex league to join the ACL Reds. When he returned a month later in the middle of June he hit .272/.392/.478 in 64 games played. He walked nearly as often as he struck out in that return, too, drawing 45 free passes while striking out just 51 times in 286 plate appearances.
MiLB All-Stars
Over at Baseball America this week they had their All-Star teams for each level of the minors this season. Several Reds players made the list. (Editors note: I do cover the Reds for Baseball America but had no say or vote or influence on these selections)
Edwin Arroyo got the nod at shortstop for Triple-A after hitting .301/.367/.523 in 354 plate appearances for the Louisville Bats. In the High-A selections it was Carter Graham that earned the nod as the top first baseman. In the first half with the Dayton Dragons he hit .322/.450/.614 before moving up to finish out the year in Double-A.
It was the Rookie-Level teams that really saw the Reds make an impact. Jirvin Morillo made the team as the catcher after he hit .321/.449/.652. He was the only position player to make the team. But both Ysaias Escalona and Iker Redona made the team as pitchers. Escalona posted a 0.99 ERA for the DSL Reds in 63.1 innings. Redona had a 2.68 ERA for the ACL Reds in 47.0 innings.
And while the performance didn’t happen with the Reds, Alejandro Rivera was named as their Pitcher of the Year at the rookie-level. Rivera had a 2.44 ERA in 48.0 innings for the ACL Guardians. He was traded to Cincinnati a week after the ACL season ended.
Australian Winter League
In the past you had to jump through hoops and another subscription service to watch games in the Australian Baseball League. That’s changing for a lot of people in 2026/27 as the ABL will now be included as a part of MLB.tv. The season will begin on November 19th.
Aussie baseball on MLB.TV is a small but welcome lifeline.
In fact, I just smiled and made a Vegemite sandwich.