Matt McLain has been named the Southern League Player of the Week. The Chattanooga Lookouts shortstop took no prisoners in the series at home against the Birmingham Barons this past week, capping the series off on Sunday by hitting for the cycle.
McLain, the Cincinnati Reds 1st round draft pick in 2021, went 9-20 with three doubles, two triples, and three home runs against the Barons. In his five games played he posted a .450/.500/1.250 line while scoring eight runs, driving in seven, walking twice, and he even picked up a stolen base to round things out.
After beginning the season by going 0-7 in the first two games of the year while striking out four times, Matt McLain has gone off, hitting .440/.482/1.120 since. The Reds have promoted him swiftly, sending him to Double-A in his first full season after being drafted and the early returns have been nothing short of outstanding.
Julian Aguiar keeps them at bay
Speaking of players taken in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds, Julian Aguiar is out to a good start to his professional career. Taken in the 12th round of the draft last summer, Aguiar threw 8.2 innings for the complex level, walking no one and striking out 14 batters. This spring the Reds pushed him up to the Low-A Daytona Tortugas. Through two games with Daytona he’s thrown 9.0 innings, allowed no runs, given up just three hits, and he’s struck out 14 batters.
Small sample size alert here, but in his first 17.2 innings he’s walked no one and struck out 28 batters. And that’s come along with a 1.53 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP. The 20-year-old righty averaged 93.7 MPH, topping out at 95.5 on Saturday against Palm Beach. He also mixed in a change up in the low 80’s and a curveball in the mid-to-upper 70’s. Through his two games he’s picked up 18 swinging strikes, good for a swinging strike rate of 16.7% (swinging strikes/total pitches thrown).