After two strong seasons to begin his professional career, Leo Balcazar’s 2023 season did not go as he had hoped. The shortstop began the year crushing the ball in Daytona, but at the end of April he tore his ACL in a freak accident after scoring the winning run in a walk-off win and missed the rest of the year.
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Despite having played in just 18 games in the Florida State League in 2023 the Cincinnati Reds were aggressive with their promotion of Leo Balcazar when 2024 began by moving him up to the Midwest League to join the Dayton Dragons. The season began with a 2-4 effort that included a double. Things went south quite quickly after that, though, as he would hit .137 without an extra-base hit for the next three weeks. Things turned around for the two weeks after that for Balcazar as he went 13-34 (.382) in nine games.
By and large, though, for the next two-and-a-half months the shortstop was in a deep slump. Over 40 games from that point through July 20th he hit just .212 with four walks and four extra-base hits while striking out 39 times. He would get a three day break after that game on the 20th before returning to the lineup.
When he did return to the lineup he went 2-4. The next day he went 3-4 with a double and things turned around rather quickly for him. Over the final seven weeks of the season he caught fire and hit .323/.352/.497 with seven doubles, a triple, and six home runs. The walks still weren’t there as he drew just five of them in a 39-game stretch, but the hits and power really showed up.
For all 2024 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Leo Balcazar Scouting Report
Position: Shortstop | B/T: R/R
Height: 5′ 9″ | Weight: 194 lbs. | Acquired: International FA (2021) | Born: June 17, 2004
The 2024 season was one that was a real struggle for Leo Balcazar. There may have been a lot of reasons behind it, too. When the year began he was just under 11 months out from having ACL surgery. He was also still 19-years-old for half of the season, making him one of the youngest players in the league. And the Reds were very aggressive with his promotion after having just played a handful of games the year before. He was asked to make a rather big jump in competition.
On top of just the poor numbers for much of the season, Balcazar didn’t have the same speed or quickness that he had shown in the past. That is likely related to the knee injury. He did show more power late in the year than he has in the past, though – even before his knee injury.
It’s kind of a difficult spot when it comes to trying to get a good read on how to evaluate Leo Balcazar at this point. In the past he showed more athleticism, more speed, and had much better performance. But there was also quite a bit that seemed to be working against him in 2024 that could be written off at least a little bit as something that might not be a concern moving forward.
At the plate things were different for him in a lot of areas in 2024. In the past he had sprayed the ball fairly evenly to all three parts of the outfield. Last season that was not the case as he pulled the ball significantly less often than he went to center or right field. When he pulled the ball in the air he found success – he just didn’t do a lot of pulling of the ball in the air.
Later in the season he did start hitting, but his aggressiveness at the plate never really improved. Only one month during the season did he draw more than three walks and that came in May when he had five walks. That is going to have to improve moving forward if he’s going to become an every day player at the highest level – the number of guys who just don’t walk and can hit enough to make it work can be counted on three fingers. The good news is that prior to 2024 his walk rate was about three times as high as it was last year. The bad news there is that the sample size prior to 2024 was small and against a much, much lower level of pitching.
Defensively he wasn’t quite the same after returning from the knee injury. His range took a step back, making him a fringy shortstop with regards to how much ground he can cover. His arm was still strong and if he can’t recover and regain that extra step he will need to remain at shortstop his arm will play anywhere if he has to switch positions.
If you can blend the good that Leo Balcazar showed prior to 2024 and the uptick in power that he showed late in 2024, you are talking about a shortstop that could hit for average, a little bit of power, and be an above-average defender. But it’s tough to know if you can actually get that kind of blending because he just wasn’t that guy after the knee injury. If he can’t get back to that, then the upside is probably more that of a utility player who can cover you defensively around the infield but doesn’t stick out there, and can’t hit enough to be a starter at any of the spots.
All of that means that the 2025 season could tell us a whole lot about the future for Leo Balcazar. Further out from the knee injury if he is able to show a bit more of his old athleticism that he had prior to the injury then he could rocket back up the rankings. But if he isn’t able to show that then perhaps it’s more likely that he’s a fringe top 20 org guy who has some useful skills but nothing that really sticks out and suggests he’s a future starter.
Stats
Spray Charts
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Interesting Stat on Leo Balcazar
He had 11 extra-base hits in 26 games in August. In the other 76 games he played during the season he had nine extra-base hits.
Bonus secondary interesting stat: He only had two plate appearances where he faced a pitcher that was younger than he was. He went 0-1 with a walk.