One of the fun stories from the early part of Cincinnati Reds spring training this year was shortstop Jose Garcia. The Cuban-born infielder crushed two homers in one game during the spring, and in his 13 games in Arizona he hit four of them while posting a .269/.300/.769 line with a walk and three strikeouts in 30 trips to the plate. The 22-year-old did that while coming off of a season in 2019 in which he missed nearly all of April, but still led the Advanced-A Florida State League in doubles with 37 of them (along with a triple and eight homers).
When the season begins in 2020, Freddy Galvis is going to be the teams starting shortstop as long as everything goes as planned. But behind Galvis on just about any projected roster for the Reds for opening day will be Kyle Farmer, and then maybe Alex Blandino. While both guys can play shortstop, and are fine there if you’re going to be filling in for a day or two – neither guy is likely to be the guy you want to hand the job over to on a daily basis.
Beyond those two guys you look at the full 57-man roster that the Reds submitted and you’ve got Alfredo Rodriguez, Jose Garcia, and perhaps Christian Colon as shortstop options. Both Rodriguez and Garcia can play the position every day when it comes to the defense. They’ve got the range, the hands, and the arm to look like a true big league shortstop. Colon, while he’s had some time at the spot in the past, is more of a “fill in at shortstop if needed” kind of option who doesn’t profile there every day.
When it comes to prospect status, there’s a night-and-day difference between Jose Garcia and Alfredo Rodriguez. Garcia, by some accounts, may be the top prospect in the Reds organization. He’s in at #4 on my list behind Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Tyler Stephenson – but he’s still a guy who I would comfortably put as one of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. Rodriguez didn’t make my top 25 Reds prospect list, nor did he make Baseball America’s Top 30 for the organization, and he’s coming off of a season in which he hit .267/.314/.327 with one home run between Double-A and Triple-A as a 25-year-old. That was far and away the best offensive season he’s had since he debuted in the organization in 2016.
Now, much like Garcia, Rodriguez was having a good spring training. He’s always looked like a guy who should hit more than he has, but he’s never actually done that. In his 33 plate appearances out in Arizona, the now 26-year-old hit .364 with two doubles and two home runs, leading to a .606 slugging percentage. Small sample size alert should be flashing in big, bright shiny letters right now if you’re thinking of placing much weight on that – but signs of life from his bat are welcome given the past several seasons.
If Freddy Galvis needs someone to step in for him in 2020 for more than a few days, the Reds may have to decide which direction they want to go. Do they give it a shot with someone like Alex Blandino or Kyle Farmer who are more second or third basemen types defensively?
Or do they go ahead and just go with a true defensive shortstop and make the choice between Alfredo Rodriguez and Jose Garcia? If it’s the latter answer, then the question becomes is there much of a choice based on the past history between the two guys bats? While Rodriguez has more upper minors experience, he’s struggled to hit everywhere he’s ever played. Garcia hasn’t played in Double-A yet, but it’s a tough sell to suggest his bat wouldn’t play better right now. Toss in that he’s a better defender and universally considered a better prospect, and the decision should be an easy one unless there’s been a massive turn around from Rodriguez at the plate since last season ended.
He was not ready in ST because he was coming off surgery but Nick Senzel is another option. I would think he has more potential defensively than Blandino or Farmer.
NICE
Doug I thought Alf-Rod had consistently been touted as an excellent defensive shortstop, but at the end of your article you suggest that Jose Garcia is better with the glove. If that’s true then the only reason to consider Rodriguez ahead of Garcia is that he’s ahead in minor league placement. Which is no reason at all. Can you double down? Jose is clearly the better hitter, but Is Garcia also the better defender?
Rodriguez is a good defender, but coming out of Cuba he was touted as excellent and I just haven’t seen THAT guy. He’s health with some injuries since signing, which probably has something to do with that. But Garcia’s a very good defender. His arm is something else, and he’s got good range, too.
Huge Senzel fan here, but he’s not playing shortstop. If the Reds had faith that he could play shortstop then he would have played shortstop at some point in the organization for more than a game. They tried it all spring a few years ago, then when the minor league season started they moved him to second base. There’s a reason for that.
Given the shortened season I predict we won’t see Garcia so that his service clock doesn’t start ticking. It would be much easier to promote Rodriguez as the Reds would be less worried about his service clock and he’s already ahead of Garcia organizationally and could in theory be ahead on making the jump to the majors. I’m saying this not knowing exactly how they are going to treat the service time issue given the shortened season (in the past, like for Senzel, we had to wait a certain amount of time before the promotion). Doug I’d imagine may have a better grasp on how it might play out.
Same could be said of Lodelo or Greene but if the Reds are in position to make the playoffs… that might (hopefully) go out the window to bolster the pen for a playoff run.
If you are down for one week you miss enough time to still have 6 full years beyond 2020. I don’t think Garcia’s going to be held down all year so they can worry about 2027.
As a Gator fan who’s seen plenty of India… he’s a good 3B and would be a good 2B but he’s definitely not going to be a SS. Kid can hit so unless he gets moved in a deal he’ll be a big part of our future. I think he’ll follow Moose’s tenure at 2B myself.
I expect the back-up to be someone not currently on the roster. I think they’ll try to pick up a guy with ML experience that gets cut loose by another organization, or perhaps opts out of a minor league deal. Part of the reason they left 3 roster spots open was to be opportunistic in picking up some players towards the end of Summer Training.
By the way, if I remember right, I believe Zach Cozart is a free agent. Any interest?
I really like Farmer/Blandino as back-ups for a day or 2. I’d love to see what Garcia can do. If he’s supposed to be your 2021 starting SS, let’s get him some time.
Play Rodriquez now, and build up some Major League value for him ; he is destined to always likely be a back up.
Give Garcia more time to play (on the other 60 man roster) before the ML debut next year (?) . That also starts his arbitration and free agency clock. But who knows what the next labor agreement will look like?
I think the season begins with Farmer/Blandino as the backups.
If Garcia continues to progress well on the 60 man roster and there’s an injury (or he progresses really well and forced the issues), I say bring him up.
If there’s an opening to build MLB value for Rodriguez, take it.