C. Trent Rosecrans reported over the weekend that Cincinnati Reds Raisel Iglesias would be pitching in the Arizona Fall League this upcoming week before heading to the Puerto Rican Winter League where he will pitch. The league in Puerto Rico doesn’t open until the 30th.
Iglesias is scheduled to pitch today and on Thursday for the Surprise Saguaros and then will go to Puerto Rico. Unfortunately both of the games he is scheduled to pitch in take place in stadiums that don’t have Pitch F/X set up, so we miss out on getting a great look into his stuff. Hopefully someone shows up with a camera and some video surfaces. With that said, he pitched in instructional league once last week and Walt Jocketty had this to say:
“He was incredible,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “It was 94, 95 (mph), and threw his curveball, slider and change. He threw strikes. It was really free and easy. He’s a fun guy to watch.”
Reds sign Australian catcher
Last week the Cincinnati Reds signed a 16-year-old Australian catcher Jake Turnbull for what is believed to be a six figure bonus according to an article in his hometown paper. He will also be on the Perth Heat when the Australian Winter League begins, though at his age I wouldn’t expect to see him get much, if any game action.
Other Winter League news
Jesse Winker had a big day on Saturday as he went 3-4 with a walk, run and an RBI. He’s hitting .417/.500/.625 with five walks and five strikeouts. He leads the AFL in OPS.
Former Red Henry Rodriguez is crushing things in the Venezuelan Winter League. Somehow the 24-year-old couldn’t find a job this past season after hitting .274 in Triple-A and getting a cup-of-coffee in the 2013 season. He’s now 17-34 with five extra-base hits and more walks than strikeouts.
Here’s an update on all of the Reds who are playing in winter leagues.
| Hitters | League | AB | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| Junior Arias | DWL | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Sebastian Elizalde | LMP | 34 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 | .382 | .417 | .794 |
| Hernan Iribarren | VWL | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | .263 | .391 | .263 |
| Donald Lutz | LMP | 32 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | .281 | .343 | .438 |
| Seth Mejias-Brean | AFL | 26 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | .192 | .250 | .346 |
| Felix Perez | VWL | 40 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 | .225 | .256 | .425 |
| Juan Perez | AFL | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .222 | .300 | .222 |
| Ross Perez | VWL | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .083 | .154 | .333 |
| Juan Silverio | DWL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Marquez Smith | LMP | 29 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 | .207 | .294 | .414 |
| Kyle Waldrop | AFL | 32 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 5 | .406 | .406 | .625 |
| Jesse Winker | AFL | 24 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .417 | .500 | .625 |
| Pitchers | League | W | L | SV | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA | WHIP | |
| Dylan Axelrod | DWL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 2.25 | |
| Fabio Castillo | DWL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Alejandro Chacin | VWL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Ryan Dennick | AFL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 | 0.69 | |
| Carlos Gonzalez | AFL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2.25 | 1.25 | |
| Nick Howard | AFL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5.14 | 1.14 | |
| Ben Klimesh | AFL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3.60 | 0.80 | |
Jesse Winker and Kyle Waldrop are off to strong starts in the Arizona Fall League while Sebastian Elizalde continues to hit well in the Mexican Winter League. On the pitching side the three Reds relievers in Arizona are all having good seasons thus far.