The Cincinnati Reds have made a few roster moves this afternoon, promoting Gavin LaValley from Dayton to Daytona and Kevin Garcia from extended spring training to Dayton. There’s likely another roster move coming later to clear a spot for LaValley on the Tortugas roster, but it has not yet been announced.
Gavin LaValley began the season on the disabled list. He originally suffered a hamstring injury before spring training began while in Arizona for strength and conditioning. He recovered and actually saw time in big league camp and got a few at-bats with the Reds, but saw the hamstring issue pop back up and cut his spring training cut short. The infielder would then miss the first five weeks of the regular season as well. He returned to Dayton, where he had spent the previous season, but this lasted just a week. In 2015 he hit .267/.343/.358 for the Dragons, but he was quite a bit stronger in the second part of the season. It would appear that the Reds were using his assignment in Dayton just as a rehab stint of sorts.
Taking his place in Dayton is outfielder Kevin Garcia. He sort of came out of nowhere in 2013 as a 20-year-old who had just one season under his belt in the Dominican Summer League. In 2013 he was assigned to the Arizona League Reds and in 50 games he hit .328/.399/.477 with 20 walks and 23 strikeouts. Unfortunately that season was followed up by missing the entire 2014 campaign after suffering a broken hand leading up to the season for Billings. He returned for the 2015 season and went to play the outfield for the Mustangs and picked up where he left off, hitting .317/.403/.399 with more walks, 24, than strikeouts, 26 in 51 games played. In limited action in the Venezuelan Winter League he hit .269 in 12 games over the winter in 2015. He’s played all three outfield spots, and he’s got enough speed to cover center field, but he’s seen more time in the corners over his career.