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    Reds prospect Arnaldo Lantigua homers twice, has a career night

    Doug Gray 25

    In mid-January the Cincinnati Reds traded international bonus pool cap space to the Los Angeles Dodgers so they they could sign Japanese star pitcher Roki Sasaki. The Reds didn’t actually send any money in the deal, but it did give the Dodgers the ability to spend an additional $1,500,00 for their signings. In return Cincinnati acquired outfield prospect Arnaldo Lantigua.

    At the time he had only played in the Dominican Summer League. His 2023 season saw him flash plenty of power, but struggle to hit overall. In 2024 he repeated the league as an 18-year-old and was one of the best hitters in the league.

    Cincinnati took a flier on a high upside power hitting outfielder in the deal with the Dodgers. And on Monday night out in Arizona, Arnaldo Lantigua had the best game of his career. Playing with the Arizona Complex League Reds, the outfielder went 5-for-5. One of those hits was a double. Two of them were home runs. He drove in four runs, scored four runs, and he even added in his first stolen base of the year for good measure.

    Arnaldo Lantigua has had two other 2-home run games in his career. Both came back in 2023 when he was 17-years-old and in the Dodgers farm system. But before Monday night he had never had a 4-hit game, much less a 5-hit game.

    Now he can put a checkmark besides both of those accomplishments. The big night for Lantigua raised his batting average 29 points, his on-base percentage 23 points, and his slugging percentage 73 points. His OPS on the year jumped from .784 to .880.

    The two home runs gave him eight on the season. That jumped him to the league lead where four other players have seven home runs. His .538 slugging percentage is tied for the 5th best mark in the league. With 19 extra-base hits on the season he’s tied for third in the league.

    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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    25 Responses

    2. The K rate is a little higher than you’d like to see in the complex league, but 24.2% isn’t that bad at all. Just over half of Lantigua’s hits (19 of 35) have gone for extra bases so he’s definitely hitting it hard when he does make contact. Hopefully this starts as a takeoff point and he puts together a nice string of games where he can stack up a lot of hits and get his average up over .300 and get some hype heading into next year. Walk rate could be a little higher, but 8% isn’t terrible by any means.

      1. He seems to be hitting the ball hard, as you state, and getting it into the air effectively.

        His fly ball rate is 44.2%, down from 51.3 % last year but still good.

        His ground ball rate (45.3%) is up from last year (30.8%), and one thing i am wondering is if that connects to the little slump he went through.

        He definitely pulls the ball, averaging 53% over his three years pro.

        What i’m getting at, with 60 grade power (Fangraphs has him with raw power of 70), plus a decent hit tool for a guy with power, and being able to get the ball in the air, there might be a pretty good RH power bat on the way.

        Lantigua has five OF assist, too, by the way.

    3. Sirota 22 years old vs the 19 year old Lantigua. It will be interesting to see how that one plays out.

      Siorta 50 Hit, 45 Power
      Lantigua 50 Hit, 55 Power

      1. Well, Lantigua didn’t cost the Reds anything.

        Where as Sirota cost the Dodgers a for sure solid big leaguer.

        1. Right, but if we look at the 3 transactions as one I think Krall did a good job.

          We sent out India, Wiemer, Sirota, a comp balance round A pick, and unused international cap space

          We got Lux, Singer, and Lantigua

          I think those 3 transactions are a net win for the Reds even if Sirota beats out Lantigua, but if Lantigua outperforms Sirota, it’s a decisive win for the Reds.

        2. Had the Reds a chance to sign Sasaki with the international cap space money instead of granting it to LAD?

      2. I don’t look at it this way at all MBS. Three different trades.

        1. India for Singer: From what I hear India was a cancer in the clubhouse so getting Singer was a bonus. Win for Cincinnati.

        2. Lantigua for Cap Space. I really like Lantigua. Big win.

        3. Lux for Sirota and a first round pick. Terrible trade. Lux is terrible defensively. He is nothing more than a weak side DH and plays very little now. They could have done much better on the FA market at the same price and still have a very good pick on Sunday and Sirota. Terrible trade. Big lose.

        Overall they lose.

        1. Taylor Trammell was a top 100 prospect once too, lets pump the brakes on the hyperbole until Sirota is producing big league WAR.

        3. I know you weren’t comparing Sirota to Trammell but the way you presented it makes it seem that way. Trammell had his best season in the Reds system in 2017 and his OPS was .818. Sirota currently has an OPS of 1.068. That is 0.250 better than Trammell career best. There is no guarantee Sirota will ever make the show. But he doesn’t have to do that much to exceed the impact of Lux.

          More important there are at least three reasons this trade made no sense for the Reds.

          1. Instead of giving up Sirota and a first round draft pick maybe the Reds sign a FA. JD Martinez never signed. Whit Merrifield never signed last winter. Both of these two would probably provide as much value as Lux.
          2. A small market team like the Reds should never give up prospects in an off-season trade.
          3. The Reds have really taken a big step forward drafting players. The second player drafted in the last three drafts are Sal Stewart, Ty Floyd and Tyson Lewis. You would expect the Reds to draft a similar player this year except that pick goes to the Dodgers.

          Lux for Sirota was a bad trade.
          Lux for a first round pick was a bad trade.

          Lux for both is really, really bad.

        4. Stock, I agree with all your points.
          Hated the lux trade at the time thought the same we probably got a steal 3rd rd pick Sirota who most thought would be first round pick
          If they redrafted today he would be first round pick. So that was bad then to include our supplemental pick for a guy who wasn’t gonna play much for the dodgers either half woulda been a bad trade both makes it terrible a supplemental first round pick for the dodgers is a luxury for the reds a must

        5. Stock, I don’t know if I would use Ty Floyd as an example of a good draft pick. He’s injured more often than Evel Knievel.

          He’s thrown 27.2 innings in the last 2 calendar years. I give him close to a zero percent chance to pitch effectively for Cincinnati.

    4. To get a good prospekt, the Reds gave the Dodgers permission to spend more of their own money. Wouldn’t you like someone to offer you a deal like that?

    5. I’ll get my first look at Sirota after the All Star break when the Dragons host the Loons.

    6. Lantigua and Lewis, both 19, born 22 days apart, may make up a pretty nice 1-2 punch pairing of RH/LH power bats.

      I suspect they’ll follow each other up the system to some degree.

      Next stop, full season ball, where they will likely spend their 20th year together in the FSL. All aboard!

      Bear with me, I’ve been considering a ride on the Amtrak Coastal train from Vancouver to CA.

      1. Next years Tortugas team is going to have some very interesting follows:

        Tyson Lewis, SS
        Drew Davies, COF
        Arnaldo Lantigua, COF
        Alfredo Alcantara, 2B
        Sheng-En Lin, RHP/DH
        Stharlin Torres, RHP

        And that’s before anyone from the draft gets added, and assuming none of the interesting DSL guys are pushed there over the complex league. With those first three guys, there certainly won’t be a lack of power. Imagine if they add someone like Jojo Parker or Billy Carlson to that list as well.

        1. Don’t forget Anthuan Valencia, either.

          He might be having his best year at his highest level, .287/.366/.425 (OPS .791), even though it’s coming after three DSL years. He’ll play all of next year at 21, so he’ll be pretty close to a college draftee in year one of his pro career.

        2. I feel like Lin just had his 1st HR the other day, maybe his bat is heating up.

          Lin, Lewis, and Lantigua are the 3 that I try to keep up with. There’s just so many people to follow. Once you get below AA, the name, and stats need to jump off the page for me to follow them.

          Even then I miss people all the time. My brain only has so much space left on the hard drive to store these ever-changing rosters.

        3. I would still stick Lin in center field and just leave him there. Nothing I’ve read suggests he’s a special enough prospect as a pitcher to hinder his development as a hitter, and his athleticism seems well suited to center. Not to mention the organization has far more infielders with potential than center fielders.

      2. I did a Chicago to Sacramento Amtrak trip when I was a kid. Very long, but there was some beautiful scenery.

        1. I used to take the train between Boston and New Haven, i used to love seeing the urban landscape, too, things away from the interstates, older, yesteryear stuff.

    8. From The Don’t Look Now Department:

      Edwin Arroyo just stung the ball again, with a double into the gap.

      Hector Rodriguez hit hit his 12th HR a moment before.

      Cam Collier with an BRI single off a LH pitcher.

      Austin Hendrick’s OPS is at .811 at this moment.

      I would not have had Hendrick out-hitting Ethan O’Donnell and Jay Allen II at this juncture.

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