A week ago the Dominican Summer League Reds and the Arizona Complex League Reds kicked off their 2023 seasons. Fast forward to this morning and the two teams are a combined 7-2 and they’ve gotten some good performances to begin the campaign.
Down in the Dominican Summer League the DSL Reds are 4-1. They’ve gotten big starts to the year from Yeycol Soriano and Alfredo Duno. Soriano has played in all five games, gotten hits in all five games, reached base at least twice in four of those games, doubled in four of those five games, and he’s struck out just once on the season while walking four times. The 17-year-old outfielder is hitting a robust .474/583/.790 to start his career.
Alfredo Duno was the Reds top international signing this year. The 17-year-old catcher hasn’t actually caught a game yet. Instead he’s started every other game as the team’s designated hitter. In his first week of game action as a professional he put together a 3-game hitting streak, going 5-11 with four runs batted in, two walks, and a strikeout.
Out in Arizona the ACL Reds are out to a 3-1 start to their season. They’ve gotten some nice starts from several hitters. Ricardo Cabrera, the Reds top 2022 international signing is continuing what he did last year after a slow start. He hit .314/.403/.461 in the final two months of 2022 and went 5-14 last week in Arizona with four walks, a double, and a home run for the ACL Reds.
Esmith Pineda was one of the top signings for the club last year and had a great start, but was injured in the 15th game of the year and missed the final two months of the season after putting up a 1.048 OPS. He’s gone 4-11 (.364) with a double and a walk. Jose Serrano saw a little action this season with Dayton, playing in eight games earlier this year. In his first three games in Arizona he’s also gone 4-11, but he’s added in a triple and two walks.
Edwin Arroyo’s hit streak
It was a rough start to the 2023 season for Edwin Arroyo. The 19-year-old began the year in Dayton and hit just .200/.254/.309 in April. From the start of May through May 30th he hit even worse, posting a .172/.222/.312 line. Through the first 36 games of the season he was hitting just .182/.234/.311 with nine walks and 38 strikeouts in 158 plate appearances.
On the final day of May he would go 3-4 with a double against West Michigan. The shortstop has had a hit in every game since then, running off an 11-game hitting streak where he’s hit .477/.489/.818 with two walks and nine strikeouts in 47 plate appearances. The hit streak has taken him from a .545 OPS to a .720 OPS in just under two weeks. He’s gone from a hitter with an OPS that was 130 points below the league average to one with an OPS 35 points better than the league average.
Carlos Jorge is a walkin’
In each of his first two professional seasons, Carlos Jorge has finished among the best hitters in each league he’s played in. In 2021 his 1.015 OPS was 3rd best in the Dominican Summer League. In 2022 his .935 OPS was the 4th best in the Arizona Complex League. This season he’s doing it again, with his .853 OPS currently ranking 5th best in the Florida State League.
In both seasons he had a good strikeout-to-walk ratio. Last year his strikeout rate spiked up to 27%. He’s cut that down this season, currently sitting at 21%, and it’s coming along with a 12% walk rate. From the start of the season through May 27th he had 15 walks and 35 strikeouts in 155 plate appearances – that’s a 10% walk rate and a 23% strikeout rate. But over the last two weeks he’s flipped that around and walked 11 times with just seven strikeouts in 48 plate appearances. That’s a 23% walk rate and a 15% strikeout rate. He’s walked in seven of the 11 games he’s played in that stretch, including four different multi-walk games.