Resurgent Arroyo leads Cincinnati's Arizona Fall League contingent

When the Mariners and Reds swung a blockbuster Trade Deadline deal in July 2022, the first name mentioned wasn’t Edwin Arroyo. Nor was it the second. Luis Castillo, then a two-time All-Star, and Noelvi Marte, then MLB’s No. 18 overall prospect, were the headliners, even if many evaluators were thinking that Arroyo -- a Top 100 prospect in his own right -- could wind up being the breakout centerpiece in the long run.

That coronation as a top-flight young talent seemed poised to come in 2024. Until one slide back into the bag during Spring Training. After that, Arroyo’s season was over.

“It was a tough thing to hear, but I tried to deal with it at the moment,” Arroyo said of the torn labrum in his left shoulder he sustained in March. “After I knew I had to get surgery, I just tried to stay as calm as possible. I got through the process for sure way better mentally and healthy and I got better routines to do. It was definitely a good experience.”

Wait, let’s unpack that: missing the entire year was a positive?

“Definitely,” Arroyo said. “I tried to see it in a positive way because I couldn’t do anything at that point. I just tried to learn as much as possible about my body. I did a lot of 1-on-1 drills and workouts and I know they really helped me, mostly mentally.”

The first thing that jumps off the page when it comes to Arroyo’s prospect profile is how smooth he looks at shortstop. Equipped with plus field and arm tools, the 21-year-old is the only member of the Reds’ Top 30 Prospects list to garner 60-grade-or-higher in both facets. Since joining the organization, the club's No. 3 prospect has only played shortstop, which when looking up the ladder at the dynamic Elly De La Cruz, makes for a potential logjam at the position. But that’s not how Arroyo sees it.

“He’s actually my friend, we’ve been together at Spring Training a lot,” Arroyo said. “And we talked about [us both playing shortstop] a lot and he was like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna help you come up’ and I’m like, ‘I hope so too.’ We don’t really think about what position. I’m just going to control what I can control and try to get there, and if we can both play together, we’ll do that for sure.”

A traditional season allows for ebbs and flows at the plate, an acclimation to pitching and working through mechanical tweaks. But the six weeks in Arizona will be anything but traditional for Arroyo. It’s a crash course designed to put him in the same position for 2025 he was entering ‘24 -- primed for a breakout.

“This is going to be my season,” Arroyo said. “I’m looking forward to doing my best and letting everybody know who I am.”

Reds hitters in the Fall League

Tyler Callihan, 2B/OF: Having previously drawn comparisons to Eric Chavez and Daniel Murphy, the sweet-swinging left-handed hitter has always had the résumé to merit considerable hype: a standout for Team USA as a prepster. A commitment to the University of South Carolina. An over-slot signing bonus in the third round of the 2019 Draft. But despite receiving positive marks for his baseball aptitude and ability to steal bags (51-for-61 over the past two seasons combined), it’s yet to all come together for the 24-year-old. After missing time during the summer, he caught fire upon his return with Double-A Chattanooga, earning an end-of-the-year bump to Triple-A Louisville, slashing .358/.451/.516 over his final 27 contests between the two levels.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B: Serving as the heir apparent for Joey Votto was going to be no small task no matter the circumstances, but Encarnacion-Strand saw the start of his first full season in the big leagues open on rocky ground. He delivered just a .513 OPS across 29 games before a broken right hand put him on the sidelines, eventually necessitating season-ending surgery. The Fall League serves as a way to make up for those lost at-bats, while also getting time in right field to help expand his positional flexibility in 2025 and beyond.

Matt McLain, 2B/SS: You can’t say that the Reds didn’t send Major League talent to Glendale. McLain returns to the AFL after a 2022 stint that paved the way for his breakout campaign in ‘23, which remains his lone Major League run after cartilage damage in left shoulder sustained in March wound up leading to surgery. The runway to a Reds return didn’t extend far enough, which made him an ideal candidate to return to Arizona, where he can work out at the club’s complex in Goodyear when not in the lineup and potentially play alongside his brother Sean, a member of the Dodgers organization, when he finds his name among the starting nine.

Reds pitchers in the Fall League

Connor Phillips, RHP (No. 15): As the Reds charged toward a playoff push down the stretch in 2023, Phillips was right there in the mix, tabbed to start every five days in September. Acquired in a separate deal with the Mariners (coming over as the player to be named later in exchange for Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker) in March 2022, the McLennan CC product ascended to Top 100 prospect status on the back of a diverse arsenal that carved up Minor League bats. But to begin ‘24, everything was out of whack. A 9.92 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts in his first 59 innings for Triple-A Louisville led to a reassignment to the club’s complex in Arizona, where he worked on mechanical tweaks. Equipped with those lessons, he quickly nabbed AFL Pitcher of the Week honors out of the chute and will be looking to rebuild his prospect profile as he eyes a return to The Show.

Jose Acuna, RHP: When the Reds dealt Tyler Naquin and Phillip Diehl to the Mets just prior to the Trade Deadline in 2022, Hector Rodriguez (CIN No. 12) was the prospect who headlined the return. But Acuna has made significant strides since joining the organization, getting bumped as high as Triple-A for four starts at just 21 years old. Primarily a sinker-baller who operates with a four-pitch mix that also includes a four-seamer, a slider and a changeup, Acuna pounds the zone in an attempt to elicit ground balls. He was outstanding at getting hitters to miss the barrel in 2023, with his 13.2 percent line-drive rate ranking second among all Minor Leaguers with at least 70 innings under their belt.

Arij Fransen, RHP: Having pitched in the Dutch Major League at just 18 years old, Fransen is part of a recent wave of young hurlers to sign with big league clubs from The Netherlands. He converted to a multi-inning relief role on a full-time basis this year, which has allowed his four-seam fastball to play up into the 94-96 mph range consistently. While the 23-year-old compiled just 7.3 K/9 in 67 2/3 innings with High-A Dayton, he tied for the lowest HR/9 rate (0.13) among all hurlers who threw at least 65 frames and spent the entirety of their season in full-season ball.

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Luis Mey, RHP: Throwing 103 mph at any level will get you noticed, a fact Mey learned this summer when he broke the record for fastest offering from a Dayton hurler at home in club history. That premium velocity has helped lead to 177 strikeouts across 163 1/3 career Minor League innings, but his inability to harness it (128 walks in that same span) has contributed to a 5.57 ERA. If the 23-year-old Dominican righty can cut down on the free passes, his sinking fastball and high-80s cutter/slider hybrid give him the look of a back-end bullpen arm, particularly seeing as he went the entirety of the 2024 season without allowing a home run.

Carson Rudd, RHP: After going undrafted in the shortened 2020 Draft following three seasons spent in the Stanford bullpen, Rudd joined Cincinnati as a free agent signing in September of that year. He has steadily climbed the rungs of the organizational ladder, spending all of this past season at Double-A Chattanooga as a bulk pitcher, finishing with a flourish as he allowed just one earned run over his final 18 2/3 frames. At 6-foot-5, he operates with a mid-90s fastball and low-80s slider, both of which have helped him miss bats at an elevated clip throughout his career (11.1 K/9 in 209 2/3 Minor League innings).