Reds' Arroyo looking healthy post-surgery in Arizona Fall League

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The last time Edwin Arroyo had a four-hit game in a professional setting was with Single-A Modesto on June 3, 2022. That feels like a lifetime, or maybe even two, ago in the career of the 21-year-old shortstop. Arroyo was traded from the Mariners to the Reds as part of the Luis Castillo deal a month later and underwent left shoulder surgery this past spring that ruled him out for the entire 2024 regular season.

In other words, Tuesday’s Arizona Fall League performance -- in which Arroyo went 4-for-5 with a double and two runs scored in Glendale's 8-1 win over Peoria -- has been a long time coming.

“Here, there’s freedom, so I can just be me,” Arroyo said. “I’m actually back to it.”

As expected, it’s been a process to get the Reds’ No. 3 prospect to a place where he could participate in the Fall League at all.

Arroyo underwent the surgery on March 20 after suffering a torn labrum on a dive back to first base one week earlier. He had gotten plenty of Cactus League run as a non-roster invite to Cincinnati’s Major League Spring Training camp, appearing in 11 games before the injury in preparation for an assignment to Double-A Chattanooga. But the procedure immediately ruled out Arroyo for the summer, and he couldn’t get into games until the instructional league.

The fact that it was Arroyo’s non-throwing shoulder may have helped him continue to get some defensive arm work in -- notable because he’s arguably one of the best defensive shortstops in the Minors -- but his work in the batter’s box was still a slow buildup. Because MLB's No. 65 overall prospect is also a switch-hitter, that meant extra diligence to get into playing shape, and that work continues even now.

“It’s mostly hitting from my right side, where it feels maybe cold for a little bit,” Arroyo said. “But when I do some swings, a couple of one-hand drills, it gets there and feels normal. … I don’t want to say it bothers me from the right side, but it is where it takes more time to warm it up. But besides that, it’s ready to go.”

All the better that the 2021 second-rounder faced exclusively righties on Tuesday and thus batted from the left side. All four of his knocks, which came in his first four at-bats, went up the middle: a first-inning single to center field, a second-inning double to center, a fifth-inning grounder between the shortstop and second baseman and a sixth-inning hustle base hit in which he beat out a throw from Padres No. 2 prospect Leodalis De Vries near the second-base bag.

In healthy times, that’s the type of hitter Arroyo was in his early career. He had shown a line-drive approach in both the Seattle and Cincinnati systems and was starting to add strength in 2023 before he was unable to get the chance to test it in the upper Minors this season.

Early in the Fall League, Arroyo has been adept at putting the ball in play, going 10-for-27 (.370) with only five strikeouts, thus giving his above-average speed a chance to scratch out more hits like his infield knock Tuesday. The power is still coming along -- all three of his extra-base hits have been doubles -- but if he’s using the big part of the field on contact, he’ll take that progress.

“I try to keep my path through the middle,” he said. “The pitchers today were probably a little different than usual, not a lot of speed. … A lot of breaking balls. So with my mentality, I didn’t change it, but I got ready.”

Arroyo’s injury slowed his route to Cincinnati, but a strong Fall League could solidify his standing as a piece of the Reds’ infield future.

📩 CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BEN'S BIZ

The Reds have superstar Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, but his inconsistent (though at times exciting) defense could make him a candidate to move. As Arroyo noted on AFL Media Day, the two players share dreams of playing together, easing any tension over who will win a future shortstop battle. Arroyo also became close with fellow Reds middle-infield prospect and 2024 Fall Leaguer Matt McLain, who underwent similar shoulder surgery in the spring and spent many days rehabbing with him at the Reds’ complex in Goodyear, Ariz. McLain is off to a similarly solid start, as he’s 4-for-9 with a homer and two doubles in three AFL games.

With every four-hit performance -- and hopefully it doesn’t take 28 months for his next one -- Arroyo hopes he’s stepping closer to becoming McLain’s partner and teammate on a much bigger stage.

“We were practically shoulder buddies at one point,” Arroyo said. “But I hope that never happens again, and we can keep getting better.”