The Reds announced today that they have designated outfielder Kyle Waldrop for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for left-hander Wandy Peralta, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Louisville. Cincinnati also recalled left-hander Cody Reed and righties Robert Stephenson and Keyvius Sampson from Louisville.
Waldrop, 24 (and not to be confused with the former Twins pitcher of the same name), rated as one of Cincinnati’s top 30 prospects from 2011-15, per Baseball America, but he’s struggled through a poor season at Louisville, hitting just .254/.302/.365. The corner outfielder has yet to display the power in Triple-A that he did at Class-A Advanced and Double-A. A former 12th-round pick, Waldrop has tallied 24 plate appearances at the big league level across the past two seasons, collecting five hits (one double), a walk and six strikeouts.
The 25-year-old Peralta, meanwhile, has not frequented Reds prospect rankings but enjoyed a solid season working primarily out of the bullpen. In 75 2/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A, the Dominican hurler has pitched to a 2.50 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a huge 58.8 percent ground-ball rate. Over the past two seasons, left-handers have actually handled Peralta considerably better than right-handed batters, though he carried a more traditional platoon split earlier in his minor league career.
As a reminder, readers can head over to Roster Resource for a full list of transactions thus far since Sept. 1 roster expansion.
Waldrop hit .227 with a .268 OBP and 6 HR in 528 ABs in AAA over two seasons, not good for a corner outfielder. He was a likely DFA candidate in the offseason anyway.
If OF Jesse Winker is called up in a few days that’ll already make a logjam between All Star Adam Duvall, hot-hitting Scott Schebler, and top prospect Winker on the outfield corners. So it’s not like struggling Waldrop would’ve gotten any playing time in September, if he did stick with the team.
I’m not sure how the Reds feel about Waldrop at this point, but they might feel that this is their best chance to get him to clear waivers, if they suspect that he might be more likely to be claimed in the offseason. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him remain in the organization, and return to AAA Louisville next season. But, maybe they just don’t care either way.
He;s going to become a minor league free agent at the end of the season sue to the fact that he was drafted in 2010. They are essentially giving up on him. He will be available to all teams in 2 months without costing a roster spot, so I would bet that he clears.