The Cincinnati Reds have signed two free agent outfielders for the 2023 season. Nick Martini and Nick Plummer have each signed minor league contracts with Cincinnati.
For Nick Martini it’s a return to the organization for the 32-year-old, sort of. Back in November of 2019 the Reds claimed him off of waivers from the San Diego Padres. He would spend the next six weeks on the team’s 40-man roster, but in early January Cincinnati would designate him for assignment and he was claimed by the Philadelphia Phillies on January 14th.
Martini has played in parts of three big league seasons. In the 2018 season he played in 55 games with Oakland and hit .296/.397/.414. He wasn’t able to repeat that success in 2019 and 2021, seeing action with the Athletics, San Diego Padres, and Chicago Cubs. Between those two seasons he hit .239/.338/.315 in 57 games. In 2022 he headed to Korea to play in the KBO and hit .296/.365/.461 with 34 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs, 51 walks, and 86 strikeouts in 576 plate appearances for the NC Dinos.
You can see Nick Martini’s career stats here.
Nick Plummer is on the younger side of these two signings. The 26-year-old made his big league debut last year with the New York Mets. He played in 14 games and had some struggles, hitting .138/.194/.379 with one walk and 12 strikeouts. While his hitting was better in Triple-A Syracuse, it wasn’t great. He hit just .238/.330/.379 in the International League last year in 65 games. In 2021 he hit much better, splitting action between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis, posting a .280/.415/.479 line between those two stops. That season, though, has been the outlier of his career. In his first four seasons in the minors he hit .199.
You can see Nick Plummer’s career stats here.
The Reds haven’t announced the moves yet, though they do show up on the official transactions page. This would seem to suggest that neither signing includes and invitation to big league camp, but that information could be forthcoming.
Nick, Nick, Nick … Nikki … Nick. And I am Gus.
More winning!
I can hardly stand it.
Please, Mr. Krall, you are too good to us Reds’ fans.
(Mic drop)
I was only joking when I said the Reds will have 93 guys in camp and 50 of them will be on minor league contracts with an invite. Seems to be we are on our way to it.
Had some stuggles, yeah uh huh. (love that line Doug)
I think that I could hit 138. Too bad I can’t run anymore. Might get a shot.
Still might as long as the price is right. 🙂
Bet not
Can’t run? That’s what our pinch-runners are for. Go to spring training dude!
Reds already had 63 for spring training, which is more than the Reds and Louisville Bats rosters combined can include.
They are planning on some injuries, too. It will work out pretty well.
At some point they might want to consider just opening up spring training to anyone who wants to play and can bring their own equipment.
Throw it up there and see what sticks.
AZ is gonna look like high school tryouts.
How are coaches going to spend enough time with each player with 94 players in camp? It just seems ridiculous. These guys are just a distraction.
For a team that doesn’t like to spend money, they sure waste a lot of it on guys who will never see the light of day in a Reds uniform.
The Reds have cornered the market on players who hit .220, draw very few walks and have zero power.
Didn’t you say that about Brandon Drury? Someone here did.
Louisville and Chattanooga need players, too.
These signings are for AAA. Louisville was a little short on outfielders. Lost Gilliam, Dawson, Cedrola, and a couple others. They now have Siani, Hopkins, Ramos, Martini and Plummer. I imagine to get AAA players with some upside you have to give them a ST invite. The last three after Hopkins above fall into this category. Really positive organizational signings, especially if Bats fans want a possibility of a competitive season..
Great point! I will be in Louisville for several games.
It’s reeeeaaallly easy to choose the guys you’ll spend more time with than others, particularly if they’re *minor* league signings.
But bobbleheads, concerts, and fireworks.
Missing the cheerleaders though.
Check the mail guys cause you may have an invite.Just having some fun cause well what else you gonna do.Go Reds
Oh man, I threw it away. Figured it was junk mail!
I got an offer to come to camp but I was on the other line with a guy talking about a set of white walls. Can I call you back?
Maybe we need a RLN nation fantasy Reds camp. LDS can be 1 manager for sure and GMR can be the other. Indy can start the prop bets on who pulls a hammy first. Mark can assign points for the 19th hole.
Nothing like an exciting offseason of minor league signings with invite to spring training.
They are signing as many guys as possible so Bell can get making position changes out of his system during spring training.
At least I have heard of Nick Martini. lol…
Talking about signing some long shots. Looking more like the Reds team will be more like a minor league team than a serious major league team. More bad baseball in 2023. Just reading about some of these signings, you hope they don’t make the minor league teams.
Certainly can’t fault all these AAAA level guys for signing with the Reds.
As dead weight with no upside, they obviously notice the lack of MLB talent on the Reds’ roster, and see it their best chance to slide into an MLB league minimum contract.