News Reds Team Notes

[Cincinnati Reds]

Might the AAA Louisville Bats actually be good, for once?

TOLEDO, OH - JULY 30: Louisville Bats starting pitcher Tejay Antone (48) delivers a pitch during a regular season game between the Louisville Bats and the Toledo Mud Hens on July 30, 2019 at Fifth Third Field in Toledo, Ohio. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Current Cincinnati Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika hit a mediocre .235/.271/.344 for the 2009 Louisville Bats, doing so while primarily playing shortstop. He was flanked on that roster by the likes of Norris Hopper, Danny Dorn, Corky Miller, and Drew Stubbs, with young bucks like Todd Frazier and even Jay Bruce sprinkling in some of their time, as well.

That ‘09 Bats club won 84 games and finished in 1st place in International League play, and that marks the last time the Bats won their league. They’d go on to finish 2nd the following year (and lose in their semi-finals for the third consecutive year), yet they’ve failed to qualify for the playoffs in every single season since.

There’s a decent chance that changes in 2026, however, as the Bats look like they may well have the most talented, big-league-ready roster they’ve had in years – at least to begin the season.

Their offense should be paced by the likes of Rece Hinds, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Tyler Callihan, and Blake Dunn, each of whom has spent significant time perfecting their craft at that level. Joining them will be Hector Rodriguez from day one, as well as the likes of Edwin Arroyo and even Cam Collier.

Their pitching staff, meanwhile, could feature a starting rotation of Rhett Lowder, Brandon Williamson, Chase Petty, Julian Aguiar, and Jose Franco, with arms like Lyon Richardson, Luis Mey, and Zach Maxwell all there to back them up – and Tejay Antone off his third Tommy John surgery, too.

It’s perhaps as talented as that roster has been in quite some time, with almost every single player featured a guy who’s still on the up-and-up of their career path (and not just bouncing around, hoping for a chance).

Maybe, just maybe, it’ll be a special season for the Bats at AAA.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/general/49632/louisville-bats-rhett-lowder-rece-hinds-edwin-arroyo

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

How many dingers will Eugenio Suárez blast for the Reds this year?

GOODYEAR, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: Eugenio Suarez #7 of the Cincinnati Reds blows a bubble on his way to the on deck circle against the Cleveland Indians during a Spring Training Game at Goodyear Ballpark on February 23, 2018 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Sluggin’ infielder slash designated hitter Eugenio Suárez belted 49 homers between time spent with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners in 2025. He blasted 49 homers for the Cincinnati Reds back in 2019, too, a year when everyone was seemingly blastin’ dingers at a record clip.

He’s done it when everyone was doing it, and he’s done it when none of the Reds were. He’s a homer-bashing machine with 325 of them already on his ledger, and a quick glance at some of the underlying metrics behind his swing suggest he’s not about to immediately slow down at age 34 in 2026.

For instance…

• Per Statcast, his 113.8 maximum exit velocity in 2025 was actually the highest mark of his career
• His Barrel/PA of 8.7 last season was his highest since 2021 (8.9) and the second highest of any season in his career
• The 21.9 degree launch angle from last season was the highest of his career, continuing an upward trend that began by jumping up to 17.7 degrees in 2019 from 14.8 degrees in 2018 – in other words, he’s implemented a continuous plan to hit moonballs, and it’s working!
• The 47.6% hard-hit rate he posted in 2025 was far and away the best of his career, as were the 57 total Barrels off his bat
• The 26.5% fast-swing rate – meaning the rate at which he swung a bat faster than 75 mph – was the best single-season mark of his career since they began tracking that in 2023, and was up a full 5% from his 21.5% mark in 2024

He’s a fundamentally different hitter than he was during that brilliant 2019 campaign with the Reds, but the game itself is fundamentally different now, too. What isn’t fundamentally different now, though, is that a) Great American Ball Park is still a homer-honkin’ launching pad and b) Geno Suárez can still very much knock the crud out of the ball, and does so mostly into the air. In fact, his 50.4% fly-ball rate (per FanGraphs) ranked as athe 4th highest among the 145 qualified hitters in the game last season, with Seattle teammate Cal Raleigh (he of the 60 smashed dingers of his own) leading the pack at over 57%.

Factor in that he’s on a one-year ‘prove it’ contract, and there’s every reason to believe Suárez is going to belt 40, 50, even 123 homers in a Reds uniform in 2026.

What say you?

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/stat-co...nio-suarez-how-many-home-runs-cincinnati-reds

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Aaron Watson is the #16 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system!

CINCINNATI, OHIO - JUNE 07: Cincinnati Reds mascot Mr. Redlegs leans on the dugout wall prior to a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park on June 07, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Cincinnati Reds jumped at the chance to draft 6’5” right-hander Aaron Watson in the 2nd round of the 2025 MLB Draft, and threw him an over-slot $2.7 million signing bonus to persuade him to eschew his commitment to the University of Florida and turn pro for good.

Watson, whom you just voted as the #16 ranked player in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings, was ranked as the #27 overall player in the country coming out of high school last year, as well as the #1 player in the state of Florida by Perfect Game. He reportedly possesses plus command of three pitches already and works in and around the zone with aplomb for a player his size and age, the kind of already-polished pitcher that should, in theory, move quickly through the Reds system should they so choose.

The Jacksonville, FL native still hasn’t thrown an in-game pitch as a pro yet, however, and that mystery is probably the lone reason why he didn’t end up higher on this year’s CPR. Where he begins in 2026 is all that’s left to determine, though I’d be surprised if it’s anywhere other than with Daytona in the Florida State League.

Congrats to Aaron, who took home a pretty easy victory on the biggest, most crowded ballot yet.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/communi...-watson-cincinnati-reds-top-prospects-florida

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Carlos Jorge is the #15 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system!

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MARCH 16, 2025: Carlos Jorge #7 of the Cincinnati Reds bats during the fourth inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix on March 16, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images

The 2023 season saw a 19 year old Carlos Jorge show pop, patience, and speed in the otherwise extremely pitching-friendly environment of the Florida State League, slashing .295/.400/.483 with 9 HR and 31 SB in just 86 games with Daytona.

Since then, he’s had his share of struggles. He followed up finishing the 2023 season with A+ Dayton by repeating that level in 2024, and his numbers cratered at .220/.291/.394 with a K-rate that spiked to unsustainable heights. That led to him returning once again to Dayton in 2025, though it was there that he found some semblance of production once again.

Jorge hit .251/.342/.355 in 2025, and while the power hasn’t really shown back up yet, he improved his plate discipline mightily across 469 PA with an impressive 52/87 BB/K, all while swiping 40 bags. On top of that, his move from part-time 2B, part-time OF to full-time CF continued to evolve with aplomb, and he now profiles as a plus defender at a crucial position defensively with an arm that plays there, too.

Jorge will still be just 22 years of age in 2026. He’s shown, at times, elite ability to take walks. He’s shown, at times, above-average power in even the most difficult of environments. He’s shown the ability to steal bases at an elite level almost every single year, and now he’s got ‘plus defender in CF’ as one of his calling cards, too. If he could ever harness all of that in one single year, well, he’d be ranked much, much higher than 15th in this edition of the Community Prospect Rankings, but at spot 15 he lands due to that not happening…yet.

It’s a big year for Carlos, who will finally bump up to AA Chattanooga after a lengthy 228 game stint with Dayton. Maybe, just maybe, that environment will suit him better with the bat, and he can find an offensive calling to pair with his glove and wheels.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/communi...12/carlos-jorge-cincinnati-reds-top-prospects