Last week I completed the Cincinnati Reds Top 25 Prospects List over at my site. If you missed out on that, go check it out.
While the regular season and playoffs are over for Major League Baseball there is still baseball going on. There are six fall or winter leagues that are full of minor and Major League players going on right now. The Australian and Puerto Rican Leagues began last week, but the other four leagues have been going for quite a bit longer. Let’s check in on how the Reds guys are playing in each league.
Arizona Fall League
The Reds are most represented in the Arizona Fall League where they have nine players. Jesse Winker is leading the way among the position players as he is hitting an incredible .345/.439/.600 with 16 RBI, 10 walks and 15 strikeouts. Kyle Waldrop is hitting .306 with 11 RBI, but he has yet to draw a walk in 62 at bats and his power hasn’t showed up in the league. Juan Perez is only able to play twice a week (the rosters are set up for this for several players), but he’s off to a good start, hitting .278/.350/.500 in the five games he has played. Seth Mejias-Brean is struggling to have hits fall in, hitting .213/.327/.298 with eight walks and 10 strikeouts.
The Reds have sent two big names to Arizona along with a few relievers. 2014 1st round pick Nick Howard is continuing his season while working on his transition back to a starting pitcher. He’s struggled thus far, posting a 6.57 ERA in 12.1 innings with seven walks and seven strikeouts. The team also has decided to keep Raisel Iglesias in Arizona after their original plan was to bring him out and pitch in two games before sending him to Puerto Rico to pitch in their winter leagues. Iglesias has pitched in four games, all as a reliever and has yet to allow a run or a hit. He’s struck out three and walked two. Left hander Ryan Dennick has posted a 1.08 ERA in 8.1 innings with a save, a walk and six strikeouts. Righty Ben Klimesh has a 3.60 ERA in 10 innings with a save, but he has struggled to throw strikes lately with seven walks (five in the last two games) to go with 10 strikeouts. Carlos Gonzalez has a 6.10 ERA in 10.1 innings with seven walks and seven strikeouts.
Dominican Winter League
To this point there are only two position players who have gotten into games and they have a combined 10 at bats. Junior Arias is 1-7 and has been used almost exclusively as a pinch runner. Juan Silverio is 0-3.
The pitching side of things has Dylan Axelrod has gotten a lot more time than others. Axelrod has a 3.12 ERA in 17.1 innings, a 2-0 record to go with four walks and nine strikeouts. Fabio Castillo had thrown 4.1 innings with a 4.15 ERA. Jumbo Diaz had appeared in one game, throwing a shutout inning with a walk and a strikeout.
Mexican Winter League
The Reds only have three players in the league, but all three are playing every day for their teams. Donald Lutz is having a strong season so far, hitting .317/.378/.573 with nine doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI. Sebastian Elizalde is off to nearly as good of a start. The outfielder is hitting .310/.372/.563 with six doubles, four home runs and seven RBI. Marquez Smith has struggled to find the hits, but when he does find them he has made them count. The infielder has hit .233/.321/.452 with seven extra-base hits and nine walks.
Puerto Rican Winter League
The league is barely underway as it just got started on Halloween. Rey Navarro is the lone position player to get much time so far. The infielder has hit .286/.286/.357 in 14 at bats with 3 RBI. Four other players have made an appearance in the league but have marginal playing time. You can see their stats at the bottom of this post.
Venezuelan Winter League
Felix Perez is the position player from the Reds who has been an every day player down in Venezuela. The outfielder has hit .324/.347/.535 with six doubles and three home runs in 71 at bats. Both Hernan Iribarren and Ross Perez have gotten into more than a few games but both are struggling, hitting under .200. Alejandro Chacin pitched in the first game of the year and threw a perfect inning, but he hasn’t pitched in a game since.
Australian Winter League
The league is technically underway as games have begun, but they haven’t begun for all of the teams yet and the rosters for the teams that haven’t begun playing aren’t set, at least online. No Reds player has played yet and to this point, only one is even listed on a roster. 16-year-old Jake Turnbull is on the Perth Heat, though with his age, I wouldn’t expect him to get more than a handful of at bats throughout the season.
All Winter League Stats
