The Arizona Fall League got underway on Monday night and it came with a surprise by the Cincinnati Reds, but we will get to that in a second. The Peoria Javelinas defeated the Scottsdale Scorpions 4-3 in the league’s only game of the day as the two clubs kicked off the 2025 fall and winter league schedule.
Five of the Reds prospects made their way into the game. Infielders Leo Balcazar and Cam Collier both started the game, with Balcazar getting the nod at second base and at the #2 spot in the lineup and Collier at first base and in the #5 spot in the lineup. Both players contributed to the win, with Balcazar drawing a walk, picking up a single, stealing a base, and scoring a run. Collier would go 1-4. His 3rd inning opposite field single drove in two runs as part of a 3-run inning that put Peoria up 4-1.
The Javelinas used seven pitchers in the game. All six of the relievers threw exactly one inning. Three of those relievers were from the Cincinnati Reds organization. Luke Hayden would give up a run on two hits and a walk in the 6th inning. And Trevor Kuncl would give up a run in the 9th inning on two walks while adding in two strikeouts. But it was the third pitcher that was used that was that surprise that I mentioned earlier. Hunter Parks threw a perfect 8th inning with two strikeouts.
Why is that a surprise? Well, Hunter Parks was not on the roster until Monday at some point. It was never officially announced. The Reds official accounts on social media made posts on Monday at 3pm ET about the team’s players who would be in the Arizona Fall League this year and Parks was not shown or mentioned among them. The transaction log, though, has him being added at some point on Monday (they aren’t time stamped aside from the day/month/year).
You can see the box score for the game here.
Peoria does not play on Tuesday. They’ll be back on the field on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30pm ET. A majority of the games this season for the Javelinas are afternoon games. I posted their entire schedule on Monday along with whether or not that game would be available to watch here if you wanted to check that out.