2018 was the first season in the Cincinnati Reds organization for Mitch Nay. In December of 2017 the Reds picked him up in the Triple-A Phase of the Rule 5 draft. He began his season in Daytona and at the midseason point he moved up to Double-A Pensacola. Between his two stops he hit .262/.363/.389. There was more power in Daytona and more on-base in Pensacola. After the season he became a free agent, but re-signed with Cincinnati prior to the start of spring training.
Mitch Nay didn’t begin the season with Chattanooga, the Reds new Double-A affiliate. When he was ready to begin play, though, that’s where he was assigned – joining the Lookouts in the middle of the month. He didn’t play much in April, racking up just 17 at-bats as he played in a part-time role. That’s changed a bit in May as the infielder has gotten into 24 games. And boy has that playing time helped him as he’s gone wild on the Southern League. In those 24 games the 25-year-old has hit .344/.406/.754 with 9 doubles, 2 triples, and he’s hit 4 home runs.
On the season he’s now hitting .282/.370/.603 for the Lookouts in 34 games. His .973 OPS would EASILY lead the league if he had enough at-bats to qualify. With his late start and limited playing time in April, he’s only about half-way to qualifying – but the league leader currently had an .858 OPS and is the only player over .832 in the entire league.
Alfredo Rodriguez climbing the leaderboard
On Sunday night in Chattanooga Alfredo Rodriguez went 4-4 with a double and a walk. It was a big night at the plate for the Lookouts shortstop. The four hits pushed his average on the season up to .312, which is now the second best in the Southern League. He’s one of only two hitters in the league over the .300 mark for the season (who happen to be qualified for the batting title).
The power still isn’t there for the 24-year-old. But he’s shown big improvements in 2019 in cutting down his strikeout rate. His strikeout percentage is down to 11.5% on the season. If a player can’t, or doesn’t hit for power, then they need to make contact an awful lot. In 2019 that’s exactly what Rodriguez is doing, and it’s helped him hit .312/.354/.357 thus far through 43 games.
Brian Rey continues his run of showing off some pop
Last night in Bowling Green the Dayton Dragons lost 3-1. Their one run came on a 9th inning, 387-foot home run by Brian Rey. It was his third home run of the season. It’s May 27th, so that doesn’t sound like many home runs, but it was only Rey’s 12th game with Dayton since being added to the roster. Dating back to the final seven games of 2018 when he was with the Greeneville Reds, the 21-year-old 13th round pick (2018) has hit five home runs in his last 19 games played. In his first 42 games played as a professional after the draft last season he didn’t hit any. Over those 42 games he hit .260/.343/.308. In the 19 games since he’s hit .294/.342/.529. And he’s done so while making contact at a very high rate – he’s struck out just 7 times in those 19 games.