There are more than a few players hitting well right now on the farm system. Some guys are on runs that have been going on for the last month (Carter Graham) and some guys have been hitting all season long (Carlos Jorge). But back in Goodyear, Arizona, it’s Adolfo Sanchez that’s crushing the ball of late.
The Cincinnati Reds top signing bonus getter from the 2024 international signing class, Adolfo Sanchez struggled a bit in his first year in the Dominican Summer League in 2024. In the offseason he reworked his swing and then as an 18-year-old hit .339/.474/.504 with more walks than strikeouts for the DSL Reds in 2025. This year he moved up to the United States and joined the Arizona Complex League Reds.
He actually got out to a bit of a slow start when the season began in early May. After the first eight games of the season he was hitting just .130/.375/.130. Sanchez was walking regularly but he wasn’t finding hits and the few he did get were all singles. On May 15th he’d go 1-4 with a walk. The next day he went 2-4 with a double and a triple before going 0-5 on the 18th.
Since then he’s reeled off a 12-game hitting streak. That streak includes five home runs, with three coming in the last four games and all five of them in the last nine games. He’s also had a double and a triple during the hitting streak. His OPS has gone from .505 after the game on May 14th to .933 after last night’s game where he went 1-3 with a home run and a walk. His OPS during the hitting streak currently sits at 1.178.
Here’s video of his home run from Thursday night’s game:
The 19-year-old has now played in 23 games with the complex level team this year and he’s scored 25 runs and driven in 19 to go along with his two doubles, two triples, and five homers. He’s tied for third in the league in home runs, tied for the league lead with teammate Steele Hall in runs scored, tied for seventh in the league in total bases, and tied for 10th in the league in hits, triples, and runs batted in.
During roughly that same time period, teammate Eli Pitts has been doing similar things. The Reds 5th round pick out of North Atlanta High School last summer made his professional debut on May 18th after missing the first two weeks of the season with the ACL Reds while dealing with a leg injury.
Eli Pitts has only played in nine games so far this year but he’s been on base in eight of them. The one game he didn’t reach base is one in which he only had two plate appearances. He hasn’t shown the home run power that Sanchez has, but he’s been racking up extra-base hits. The outfielder is 12-26 on the season with four doubles, a triple, and a home run. He’s also walked seven times and struck out just four times in his 33 plate appearances, helping him hit a cool .462/.576/.808 to begin his career.