The Reds announced a slew of minor league signings today (Twitter link), including the re-signing of outfielder Mason Williams to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. Cincinnati also confirmed its previously reported minor league deals/invites to MLB camp for infielder Christian Colon and righty Anthony Bass. Furthermore, Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets that the Reds agreed to a minor league pact and an invite to Spring Training with former Twins right-hander Felix Jorge, though the organization has yet to announce that addition.
Williams, 27, is a former Yankees top prospect who didn’t pan out in the Bronx but fared reasonably well with Cincinnati last season. The Reds gave Williams his largest slate of MLB work to date, as the 2010 fourth-rounder appeared in 51 games and hit .293/.331/.398 with a pair of homers, five doubles and a triple in 132 plate appearances during that time.
Williams’ return to the organization is all the more notable given Cincinnati’s decision to non-tender Billy Hamilton. While Williams assuredly won’t be viewed as a concrete solution in center, he’ll join the competition for an outfield job with the Reds this spring and could stand a decent chance at eventually cracking the roster if the team doesn’t bring in a more established option via free agency or trade. Williams does, after all, have more than 5000 professional innings in center field under his belt between the Majors and the minors.
As for Jorge, he’s a slight-of-frame righty listed at 6’2″ and 170 pounds but long rated as one of the more polished arms in the Twins’ system. He never drew Top 100 prospect billing throughout the league but did make a pair of starts for the Twins in 2017 and has a solid track record up through the Double-A level. Now 25 years old, Jorge missed much of the 2018 season due to injury and has only a handful of innings in Triple-A, but he owns a career 3.75 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 209 innings at the Double-A level. He’s never been one to miss many bats, but Jorge has typically demonstrated pinpoint control throughout his minor league tenure and has kept the ball on the ground at better than a 50 percent clip in recent seasons.
Cincinnati also indicated that it’ll bring right-hander Alex Powers back to the organization as a non-roster invite to MLB camp after a trio of solid seasons. The former White Sox farmhand has been with the Reds since 2016 and delivered his most encouraging season yet in 2018, pitching to a 2.34 ERA with 11.7 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 0.64 HR/0 and a 42.5 percent grounder rate in 42 1/3 innings of relief. Powers will turn 27 next month, meaning those fairly gaudy numbers came against much younger and less-experienced competition, but the bottom-line results were enough for the Reds to want to take a look this spring.
Mase in yer face!!!!
Hope he can win the CF job.
Not a fan of this move. In Out of the Park Baseball 19 Mason Williams has a bad attitudes and upsets the clubhouse resulting in bad performance.
lol
Where did you hear this ? Never saw anything to that effect.
From a video game
He’s a good kid. Quiet, keeps to himself.
Glad to see Classical Gas given another chance. Wasn’t bad off the bench.
SO glad I’m not the only one old enough to remember the song!!
…ditto….legend has it that Glen Campbell (unknow at time) was one of the studio cats playing guitar…..shown on the “Smothers Brothers Show” as background music for quick tour of the Louvre……God I’m old……
So the guy who did the Mason Williams Overture plays OF? Interesting.
Glad to see this. Williams played hard down the stretch when other players were just cashin checks…
Like both the Jorge and Wilson pickups. Nice upside for Jorge, solid floor for Williams.
I like williams a lot, hope he gets a chance and makes it count in the Cincy outfield
Injuries were always a problem in the NY system. He will outperform Hamilton at a fraction of the cost. He is not the base stealer, but he’ll actually get to first. Nice potential leadoff option for this IF heavy club. Keep Barnhart!!
Mixed feelings about Williams. Good off the bench, but the bench will already include a solid 4th OF. I don’t know if his defense is strong enough to make the roster as a late game defensive OF.
Its weird to be mixed when he is competing for a roster spot where he will unlikely make it, it that’s all up to to when then they figure the CF position out. Not sure they can talk Pollok down on his asking price, they should just be all in on Senzel in center.
defense is there.
Almost as good a player as Rob Refsnyder.
Rob “the best trade chip in all of baseball” Refsynder?! no way that guy is a future HoF