The Reds have claimed infielder/outfielder Arismendy Alcantara off waivers from the Athletics, Cincinnati announced. Fellow utility option Patrick Kivlehan — who was claimed just eight days ago from the Padres — was designated for assignment to clear roster space.
Alcantara, 24, was once one of the more well-regarded prospects in the Cubs’ minor league ranks, but his promising production at Double-A and Triple-A as a 21-year-old and 22-year-old, respectively, hasn’t carried over to the big league level. Alcantara hit .271/.351/.452 with Double-A Tennessee back in 2013 and followed that up with a huge .307/.353/.537 slash with Triple-A Iowa the following season. Both of those impressive stints fueled a promotion to the Majors in ’14, but Alcantara floundered through 300 plate appearances that year, and his bat regressed at Triple-A in 2015. All told, he’s a career .195/.249/.337 hitter through 351 big league plate appearances, though he did post a respectable .278/.325/.467 slash in 108 Triple-A contests this season.
Alcantara has experience playing a slew of positions and can give the Reds another versatile option to move around the diamond. He’s played mostly second base and center field at the Major League level but also has professional experience at shortstop, third base and in both outfield corners.
As for Kivlehan, his stay on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster proved to be brief. The former Rangers/Mariners farmhand was claimed off waivers in late September. In the past calendar year, Kivlehan has been traded from the Mariners to the Rangers, only to be sent back to Seattle before being claimed off waivers by the Padres and later by the Reds. He’ll now potentially land with a fifth organization in the past 12 months. The 26-year-old has just 24 big league plate appearances but is a .282/.344/.470 career hitter in the minors, where he’s played both corner infield positions extensively and has seen limited action in all three outfield slots.
Alcantara is a classic example of how a players value is at its absolute highest when he’s a prospect (most of the time)
Alcantara had real value until he decided he was a power hitter. Everything went to hell from there.
Man, if you’re a marginal player and you go camping for a week this time of year, you could get waived and claimed a half dozen times and not even know about it.
Bring your cell.
Great no-risk, high reward move by the Reds. He’ll only be 25 next year, but remains extremely versatile and retains plenty of upside. He plays everywhere but P, C, and 1b, so it should be easy enough to find him a spot in AAA.
The Reds had several big success stories in 2016 with Jose Peraza, Adam Duvall, and Scott Schebler all blowing far past the expectations placed up on them. Alcantara at least has the raw skills and upside to be the next one. He would be an interesting guy to turn to if the Reds’ starting 2b, 3b, SS, or CF got hurt.
The Reds really lucked out by claming Dan Straily off waivers this spring, hopefully Alcantara is the next surprise sucess story.
Alcantara is a waiver wire gem. 25 year old former top 100 prospect with the ability to play nearly every position coming off of a 12 home run 32 stolen base AAA campaign. With Cincy, he should be able to carve himself out a niche whether it be as a regular or a part timer. I can see him becoming a similar player to Freddy Galvis, which isn’t a bad thing. The thing he needs to work on is his plate discipline. Maybe being in the same clubhouse with Joey Votto will be beneficial for him. If Alcantara can improve his plate discipline, he’s still young enough to become a stud major league regular, however as he is out of options, there is always the chance that he is passed around from organization to organization as Kivlehan has been.
Great pick up, Cubs & A’s will be kicking them selves for letting this guy slip away
Pretty sure the Cubs are all good with letting him go
love this pick up by the reds low risk high reward hoping that these are the kinda moves that new gm Dick Williams will be making going forward. also hope Kivlehan stays in the organization with invite to spring training.
Arismendy Alcantara is a talented and versatile Jim Hendry prospect who peaked at AAA a couple of seasons ago. Theo Epstein kept the more talented and more versatile Hendry draft pick, Javier Baez, who has a chance to be a super star. In the mean time, Epstein reacquired another versatile veteran in Chris Coghlan for Alcantara, a player who has a chance to help the Cubs off the bench in the postseason.
Great analysis. I agree with every part except for the Coghlan bit. He was good last year, but hasn’t seen too much success this year, although he has had his times.
Chris Coghlan has been nearly as good since coming to the Cubs from the A’s on June 9th as he was in 2015. His power (HR) numbers are down significantly but his defense has been better, mostly as a result of not having to play any 2B this season.
In 2015 Coghlan posted a 1.9 WAR (2.0 oWAR/-0.7dWAR) with a .250/.341/.443 triple slash in 148 games and 503 PA’s with the Cubs as a semi-regular player. Since coming over from the A’s this season, he accumulated a 1.0 WAR (0.4 oWAR/0.3 dWAR) along with a .252/.391/..388 slash in just 48 games and 128 PA’s as a part time performer off the bench. Coghlan was deemed good enough by manager Joe Maddon to bump Matt Szczur, who spent the entire season with the club, from the NLDS roster.
Well put by soxcess