The term ‘prospect’ is being used loosely here, however.
Edwin Arroyo was a prize prospect in the Seattle Mariners system prior to being acquired by the Cincinnati Reds in the deal that sent Luis Castillo west. Connor Phillips, too, was a big piece in the Seattle system before he arrived in the Reds system in exchange for Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, meanwhile, was a big, big part of why the Reds chose to trade Tyler Mahle to the Minnesota Twins.
You may think the commonality between this trio is that they were all traded to the Reds during their most recent rebuild. You’d be correct, except that’s only one of the things that trio has in common at the moment. Each of the three also had what could easily be called ‘lost years’ in 2024, with Arroyo’s shoulder surgery, the busted wrist of CES, and Phillips’ yips seriously denting their once-vaunted reputations.
Fortunately, the Arizona Fall League is right around the corner, and all three will get a chance to finish calendar year 2024 on a much, much brighter note than it has been for them so far. The Cincinnati Reds are sending them to the Glendale Desert Dogs as part of an eight-man contingent, which they announced on Wednesday morning.
Eight Reds will be playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League ️ pic.twitter.com/X1piNPwXNb
— Reds On The Rise (@RedsOnTheRise) September 25, 2024
Jose Acuña, Tyler Callihan, Arij Fransen, Luis Mey, and Carson Rudd will be joining them, each with their own unique story in gaining the opportunity to play in this prospect spotlight league.
Acuña, acquired from the New York Mets in the Tyler Naquin trade a few years back, dealt with a flexor strain issue in his throwing arm during the 2024 season, and his form dipped a bit. He was actually quite impressive in a limited sample size with AA Chattanooga before being blasted in his initial foray with AAA Louisville, but it’s his quantity – just 39.0 IP all year – that has him headed to Arizona to continue to work his way back.
Callihan, meanwhile, signed an over-slot deal as a 3rd round high school pick in the 2019 MLB Draft (5 picks ahead of Spencer Steer, I should add), and his bat-first profile hasn’t quite lived up to the billing just yet. The infielder just turned 24, though, and is fresh off his most productive minor league season with the bat (including a .996 OPS over his final 30 G of the season).
Mey has a heck of an arm, touching 103 mph as a reliever with High-A Dayton earlier this year. He pitched to a tidy 2.79 ERA and picked up 8 saves for them prior to bumping up to AA Chattanooga, but his 7.0 BB/9 still needs some work. That’s what he’ll be working on out west as a relief option for the Desert Dogs.
Rudd, too, boasted a 6.7 BB/9 this year as a 25 year old exclusively with AA Chattanooga, though his 3.04 ERA and 9.9 K/9 in 77.0 IP for the Lookouts show he’s got the chops to get batters out. Seems to me that he, like Mey, are arms the Reds like a lot if they could just find the zone with a bit more consistency – something both will work on in the AFL.
Fransen is a native of the Netherlands, and he’s been in the Reds system since the 2021 season. Now 23, he helped the Dutch win the Under-18 Euro championships back in 2019 prior to signing with the Reds, and he’s fresh off firing 67.2 IP of 3.86 ERA (1.57 WHIP) ball with High-A Dayton.
Congrats to that eight-pack for getting the chance to play in such a storied short-season league, and here’s to the guys who were hurt picking up where they left off pre-injury.