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    Tyler Callihan (Photo: Meeks and Norris Photography)
    Photo: Meeks and Norris Photography/Chattanooga Lookouts

    Cincinnati Reds add two prospects to the 40-man roster

    Doug Gray 13

    Just before Tuesday’s 5pm ET deadline, the Cincinnati Reds made two additions to their 40-man roster in order to protect Luis Mey and Tyler Callihan from being selected in December’s Rule 5 draft. With Nick Martinez accepting the qualifying offer today, too, the Reds 40-man roster is now at 39 players. That means that Cincinnati felt comfortable in not adding another player and taking the chances they would go unselected by other teams.

    When I wrote about all of the possible players who could be selected in next month’s Rule 5 draft there was only one player that I felt was a lock to be added to the 40-man roster and that was Luis Mey. But when covering the position players I did include Tyler Callihan as one of the more likely additions among the position players and called the decision on him a coin flip.

    Luis Mey felt like a lock because there’s just no way he would have gone unselected if he was left off of the roster. The right-handed reliever topped out at 103 MPH this season, found some success in Double-A in the second half, and was nearly as lights out as you could be in the Arizona Fall League where he allowed just one hit in 8.2 shutout innings for Glendale. In his 63.2 innings this year between Dayton, Chattanooga, and Glendale he posted an ERA of 2.97 and allowed just 39 hits. He did walk 45 batters, which is an area he must improve on moving forward. But the 23-year-old did strike out 71 batters and got groundballs at a well above-average rate.

    Here are the career stats for Luis Mey.

    Tyler Callihan also played in Double-A Chattanooga this season. And he also saw a week in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats to end the regular season before he went out to play in the Arizona Fall League. He got out to a really slow start in the first month of the year. On May 7th he had a 3-hit game and he never looked back – hitting .335/.427/.515 the rest of the year in his 50 games played. He did miss 10 weeks in the middle of that while on the injured list before returning in early August.

    The Arizona Fall League only lasts six weeks, and no one plays on a daily basis. Callihan played in 19 games for Glendale and hit .263/.337/.425 with five steals and seven extra-base hits. Most of his time in Arizona was spent in left field, where he played a little bit in the regular season – but most of his time came at second base with Chattanooga.

    Here are the career stats for Tyler Callihan.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    13 Responses

    2. I’m probably more bullish on Callihan than many here.

      What I like. In only the equivalent of 2 & 1/2 years of playing time, he has had success in the higher minors after being drafted out of high school. He lost an entire year to TJ surgery and has had some lesser injuries to overcome along the way. Yet here he is.

      What he can provide potentially is a LH bat with pop off the bench, as a backup to McLain at 2B, Whoever at 1B, Whoever Else at 3B and the Other Guy in LF. Further, being drafted as a bat-first high school kid who wasn’t especially good defensively earlier on in his pro career, he has become pretty good in the field and has a strong arm. So, he’s possibly one of those kids of whom it is said ‘he’ll hit and we’ll figure out where to pay him eventually’ who actually finds a place (or places) to play competently.

      Last, if his success at AA, AAA and the AFL is for real, I think his LH vat will play up some at GABP. I suspect he’s going to have to continue developing his ability to get to his power and, if he does, he’ll be a pleasant surprise. With McLain and (for now) India at 2B, with Candelario, CES, possibly Steer at 1B, with Candelario, Marte, Espinal at 3B, and Steer, et al in LF, his bat isn’t needed right away. A hot start at AAA could change that, however. If not, he’ll be gaining experience.

      1. Good stuff Dave and I agree. If he can stay relatively healthy for a good stretch there is quite a bit of untapped potential still and he’s shown he can develop. I’m glad he got added.

      2. After seeing Tyler in ST this year and then more in the AFL, what you said is exactly the way I feel about him. He’s a hard worker and very humble guy. Hope he keeps his advancements going! And I’d like to think my fist bumps gave him a boost, he had multi-hit games 4 out 5 times. Lol.

    3. I’m surprised, Acuna looked like a lock to me, and Callihan felt like a stretch. They must not have liked what they saw in fall ball.

    4. I’m normally a reader and not a commenter, but I was really surprised with the rule 5 decision. Most surprised by Acuña not being chosen, but also by Johnson. Both of these guys had solid years. This was Johnson’s first full year injury free and it was his best yet. For a lot of his career he has been the underdog, but he’s always seemed to accept the challenges (moving to almost every position). Very surprising… should be an interesting season.

      1. I’m a big Johnson fan. But a large part of the consideration whether to protect someone from the Rule 5 draft is the likelihood a team selects them. A team would need to keep him on the major league roster all year if they select him. That just doesn’t happen for guys in Johnson’s position. I think the Reds are confident he will go unselected, so even though they like him, they know he isn’t going anywhere.

      1. Kind of surprised Acuna wasn’t protected. Think he might be someone that works out well, but the Reds feel he’ll either be passed by or they’re not that bullish on him.

      3. I think they will. Jose showed some upside to me in the AFL. Not exactly overpowering stuff but he seemed to place his pitches well at that point for the most part. I thought he’d be protected and Tyler was a long shot. But glad Tyler at least got it. He made advancements this year because it looks like he works really hard and such a humble kid from our chats in AFL pre-games.

      4. I was surprised the didn’t cover Acuna, but I kinda/maybe understand the thinking – 1 – it would be a stretch for any team to take Acuna, and 2 – an even bigger stretch for them to keep him all season. Much easier to keep a backup catcher or 5th outfielder if they perform at all well – much riskier to keep a pitcher who really needs to get 50+ innings. IIRC any injury time doesn’t count toward the return period, so you cannot play games with the IL – if healthy they need to pitch well enough. Then again Cf. Weaver, Luke; Reds 2023.

        1. I think one of the thoughts with Acuna, fair or unfair, may be velocity and raw stuff related. He’s not an especially hard thrower and, even with nice off speed stuff, it might be they think he’ll have to be fine with his control/command in order to pitch well enough to stick. Whereas, like Spiers, he might need to go up and down some between AAA and the ML’s to stick. I can see the reasoning. I generally felt Acuna and Aguiar were very similar, except in velocity. Given the (well understood) challenges Aguiar had, not quite being ready, Acuna might be an even greater risk to last all year.

      5. Even if someone takes a chance on him, the likelihood of him staying on a MLB roster all of 2025 is about the equivalent of me hitting the lottery this weekend. I think the Reds made a sound decision to not protect him.

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