The minor league season has been over for a month or more for nearly all of the minor league teams. That doesn’t mean that the minor leaguers are through playing though. Last week the Venezuelan Winter League started up, but so far it’s only been a big leaguer that’s made an appearance from the organization (Hernan Iribarren). Over the next few weeks I would expect a few more guys to show up in the league, but probably only three or four more guys.
Later today though, two more fall/winter leagues get underway. The only domestic fall league kicks off at 2:35pm when the Arizona Fall League begins. The Cincinnati prospects that will be playing in the league are listed below, along with their statistics from the 2016 season.
| Player | Level | ERA | IP | BB | K |
| Barrett Astin | AA | 2.26 | 103.1 | 25 | 96 |
| Evan Mitchell | A+/AA | 2.87 | 62.2 | 21 | 50 |
| Nick Routt | AA/AAA | 1.98 | 68.1 | 25 | 58 |
| Seth Varner | A+/AAA | 4.43 | 138.0 | 31 | 103 |
| Player | Level | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| Brandon Dixon | AA | 461 | .260 | .315 | .434 |
| Brian O’Grady | A+ | 424 | .235 | .363 | .394 |
| Zach Vincej | AA | 438 | .281 | .329 | .378 |
| Chad Wallach | AA | 243 | .240 | .363 | .410 |
All of the players will be joining the Peoria Javelinas squad. If you want to follow along the games, you can always check RedsMinorLeagues.com daily for updates, but to follow in real-time, you can check out MLBFallBall.com. It’s not a “sexy” group of prospects by any stretch of the imagination. Not one of these guys is going to crack the Reds Top 20-25 prospect list. A lot of these guys, though, are Rule 5 eligible this offseason if they aren’t added to the 40-man roster. Among the pitchers, only Seth Varner isn’t eligible for the Rule 5 draft this year. Among the position players only Brian O’Grady isn’t Rule 5 eligible this year.
The team is likely looking for one last chance to evaluate these guys before having to decide what to do with them in five weeks when it comes time to finalize your 40-man roster before the winter meetings and the Rule 5 draft.
The Arizona Fall League is not the only league that will get underway today. The Mexican Winter League also kicks things off this afternoon. The rosters haven’t been released yet for most of the teams, so it’s tough to say who will be there. Last year there was only one player, Sebastian Elizalde, who showed up in the league. As a Mexican born player who has played there several years in a row, I’d expect him to be there again.