The Cincinnati Reds made a bunch of roster moves on Sunday morning, but the most noteworthy one is probably that they designated Rece Hinds for assignment. The team needed to create a spot on the 40-man roster and it was Hinds that the front office decided was the player they were going to place on waivers. P.J. Higgins was called up to replace Jose Trevino on the active roster after Trevino hit the injured list with a hamstring injury. Higgins, not on the 40-man roster, required a spot. Luis Mey was also optioned to Triple-A and Jose Franco was recalled.
Rece Hinds was the team’s 2nd round draft pick in 2019 out of IMG Academy in Florida. Known at the time for big time power potential, that stuck with him throughout the minor leagues. Injuries limited him early in his career, playing just three games after the draft in 2019, and then in just 54 games and 79 games in both 2021 and 2022.
The 2023 season was the first year in which he played anything close to a full season of games when he spent 109 games with Double-A Chattanooga. And he broke out that season, hitting .269/.330/.536 with 29 doubles, six triples, and 23 home runs. He also stole 20 bases that year for the Lookouts.
The next season he moved up to Triple-A and he struggled for much of the first half, but in early July the Reds needed someone to come up and play the outfield and Hinds got the call. And in his first six games with Cincinnati he crushed the ball unlike anything many players could imagine. Hinds went 11-22 with three doubles, a triple, five home runs, seven runs scored, 11 runs batted in, and he even stole two bases for good measure. That added up to a .500 batting average, a .542 on-base percentage, and a 1.409 slugging percentage. Hinds would win the National League’s Player of the Week award in his first week as a big leaguer.
But things went south in a hurry. Hinds went 1-24 the rest of the season with the Reds. He hit under .200 in Triple-A after his return. He turned things around in Louisville in 2025, though, hitting .302/.359/.563 while improving his strikeout rate and hitting for far more power, but in his 15 games with Cincinnati during the season in three different limited call ups he went 5-43 with 21 strikeouts.
In 2026 his number improved again in Triple-A. And in mid-April he was called up for another shot in the big leagues. Things didn’t change there as he went 4-33 with 18 strikeouts before being sent back to Louisville.
After his first six games with Cincinnati back in 2024, Hinds hit just .100/.150/.210. In his 107 plate appearances over that time he had five doubles, two home runs, five walks, and a staggering 48 strikeouts. Starting in the 2025 season he played in 27 games for the Reds and had a plate appearance in 26 of those games. Out of those 26 games he got into the batters box he struck out in 24 of them and had multiple strikeouts in 11 of them. He was just never able to make the adjustment at the highest level in order to either make more contact or to draw more walks by laying off of pitches outside of the strikezone.
You can see the career stats for Rece Hinds here.