The open door for Edwin Arroyo with the Cincinnati Reds

The open door for Edwin Arroyo with the Cincinnati Reds

Santiago Espinal is recent off a -1.4 bWAR season that noticed him hit .243/.292/.282 total in 328 PA with the Cincinnati Reds. Garrett Hampson, meanwhile, went just 3 for 19 in his quick stint with Cincinnati last season as a part of a three-franchise yr the place he hit .143/.250/.169 total. Then, there’s Michael Chavis, who hasn’t had a single PA in Major League Baseball since 2023, and he hit just .242/.281/.341 with the Washington Nationals again then.

Espinal, who elected free company after being outrighted at season’s end, was the main utility infielder for the Reds in 2025. While Elly De La Cruz performed just about every single inning at shortstop, Espinal acquired some time there (in addition to at 2B when Matt McLain slid over to play quick). So, that’s what’s gone from last season. Hampson performed precisely one game at shortstop in his quick stint with the Reds despite not having began a game at that place since his 2023 season with Miami, while Chavis – who spent 2025 in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons – has never performed an inning of quick at the big league level at any point.

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That’s the place the state of Cincinnati’s middle-infield depth sits proper now, each when it comes to what’s absent from last yr and what’s been added to the fold since – a pair of 31 yr olds who, actually, don’t have any enterprise playing shortstop ever, and whose total worth defensively has never been jaw-dropping at the less important infield roles. Add in that none of them have ever actually hit, and you start to surprise what the hell the Reds are doing right here.

We know the Reds wish to get Elly a bit more relaxation in 2026, be it break day during day games or by rotating him at DH. The plan, I suppose, is to let McLain play quick on those days, though that a) reductions that McLain regarded like he wanted loads of days off last yr and b) opens a gap at 2B that doesn’t have an apparent substitute (until Sal Stewart out of the blue turns into more succesful defensively).

That positive doesn’t appear to vibe with the emphasis on protection the entrance workplace has espoused since buying glove-only 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (and his long-term contract) last summer season. It appears apparent, then, that there’s a fairly first rate want for a glove-y man who can add worth defensively up the center, and it’s always a boon to the roster development when that participant can also switch-hit.

And, since you recognize the place I’m going with this, there’s Edwin Arroyo proper there on the 40-man roster who actually does all of that.

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He’s proper there! On the roster!

He’s also recent off a brief stint with the Cangrejeros de Santurce in Puerto Rican Winter League play the place he went 22 for 62 in 16 games (.355/.429/.468). That’s after he hit .284/.345/.371 on the complete with AA Chattanooga last yr after dropping 2024 to shoulder surgical procedure, though he hit .296/.356/.402 from June eleventh (the day he lastly socked his first homer) by the end of the yr – doing so with a minuscule 13.0% Okay-rate.

Arroyo is about as identified a amount defensively because it will get, a man whose total expertise landed him on Top 100 prospect lists for three consecutive years before his shoulder injury and misplaced 2024. His glove was tabbed as the best in the 2024 version of Arizona Fall League play by MLB Pipeline’s Sam Dykstra as he emerged from his in any other case misplaced yr. There’s a cause why, at the time, there was query whether or not it was Arroyo or Noelvi Marte who was really the prize in the deal that despatched Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners years in the past.

He lacks any time at AAA, which is probably going one thing working against him in this Reds group. Plenty of other groups – notably Atlanta and Arroyo’s previous club in Seattle – have made habits of selling gamers to the majors immediately from AA, though that’s not usually Cincinnati’s type. Still, he’s a yr older proper now than Elly was when he debuted and 4 months older than Sal – with over 250 more skilled PA than Sal proper now – so it’s not as if he’s too younger and missing any experience.

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There’s a great argument to be made that sending him to AAA to start 2026 is the prudent transfer, a transfer that continues to get him loads of PA every single day as he continues to shake any and all rust off the completely misplaced 2024 season. I get that, and I do know it’s what’s nearly sure to occur. Still, we aren’t too far faraway from the Reds out of the blue deciding to get aggressive with Jonathan India for an Opening Day, and while on a regular basis PA appear unlikely proper now, it’s fairly clear that there’s a task accessible proper now on the 26-man roster the place Edwin profiles nearly completely even if he never reveals the world he’s any better – and, if he does, that’s another weapon the Reds have at their disposal from the first game of the season onwards.

Barring another transfer to cement the roster with a longtime utility infielder, it positive seems to be as if Arroyo will head to camp in Goodyear in two weeks with an opportunity to actually present the club that he’s prepared. And if he does, there’s nobody more nicely suited than him who’ll be there to challenge for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

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