The Cincinnati Reds made a set of roster moves on Tuesday afternoon. The Solano family is welcoming a new addition to the crew and as such Donovan Solano was placed on the paternity list. Taking his place on the roster will be outfielder TJ Friedl.
TJ Friedl will be returning to the big leagues once again. He’s spent time going back-and-forth between Triple-A Louisville and Cincinnati. In his 29 games this season with the Reds he’s picked up 100 plate appearances and hit .200/.250/.289. Since his last trip down to the minors, Friedl has been on fire for Louisville. He’s played in 40 games and has hit .315/.385/.504 with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 4 home runs, 13 walks, and 10 stolen bases. Strangely enough, he only has 10 stolen bases in Louisville on the year and they’ve all come since June 21st.
While he’s in Cincinnati, Friedl will represent a good option off of the bench as a pinch runner. He’s also a good defender if the team needs to go down that road. While he hasn’t done much of it in the big leagues, he’s also an excellent bunter if the situation calls for that.
Reds land two prospects in ESPN’s Top 50 list
Kiley McDaniel, former scout and Atlanta Braves front office employee turned prospect analyst extraordinaire released his updated Top 50 Prospect List at ESPN this afternoon. Only two Cincinnati Reds prospects made the list ($$). Elly De La Cruz is the highest rated Red on the list, coming in at #20 on the list. De La Cruz is hitting .298/.351/.602 with 36 stolen bases in 93 games played between High-A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga.
The other Reds prospect to make the list is also a shortstop, but perhaps not the one you expected. Edwin Arroyo, who is currently playing in Single-A Daytona, came in at #36 on the list. He’s hitting .316/.385/.514 with 21 steals in 87 games between three stops in the Mariners and Reds organization.
Doug, any reason to expect Friedl will ever hit. Right now he looks like Aquino without the arm and occasional power. I’d rather see Cedrola, I think, though that requires 40 man roster maintenance.
How does he look like Aquino?
Lousy average at ML level. Roughly same numbers of ABs in 2022 (125-100). Both around .200 w/.530 or so OPS
That doesn’t mean he looks like him, though. It means in a jumbled together mess of a sample size they have similar numbers. Friedl makes more contact, understands the zone better, has more speed (thus he is likely to find a few more infield hits).
Problem is both guys are 4th or 5th outfielders and not starters.
I meant “looks like”, purely in the statistical sense. Where would the Reds be without 4-5 outfield candidates? Thanks for the scouting report.
Without any outfielders.
Doug, could you answer a question for. I keep checking the Reds website and the 40 man roster. I do not count the IL-60 players, only the current roster, the IL-10 or 15 players and those in the minors. There are 20 pitchers listed on the 40 man roster and 21 position players listed on the 40 man roster. That equals 41. Who is actually not on the roster. I even went back two months checking for DFAs and found no one to match up with the roster. Thanks.
Ronnie Dawson is listed as on the 40-man on the Reds website when he actually isn’t. It’s been that way for months.
So Noelvi Marte fell down in this ranking or am i wrong?
I am hopeful Reds decide to keep Friedl up and let him play vs RH pitching the rest of the season. Almora is a backup OF and I believe Aquino has proven he isn’t a MLB player. Friedl ability may turn out to be to be very similar to Fraley. I wouldn’t mind seeing them hit one, two in lineup vs Right-handers and see what they can do.