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Nick Martini

A’s Agree To Minor League Deals With Nick Martini, Aaron Brooks

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The A’s have agreed to minor league deals with a pair of old friends, signing outfielder Nick Martini and righty Aaron Brooks, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Martini has been assigned to Triple-A and Brooks to Double-A.

Martini, 34, was recently designated for assignment by the Rockies and elected free agency after clearing waivers. He inked a minor league deal with Colorado over the winter and broke camp with the Rox after an excellent showing in spring training. However, Martini struggled greatly in 111 plate appearances, despite taking only five left-on-left turns at the plate and despite playing his home games at Coors Field. He slashed .225/.288/.294 during his time in purple — a tepid follow-up to a similarly rough showing with the 2024 Reds (.212/.272/.370 in 163 plate appearances).

Rough as Martini’s 2024-25 seasons have been, he’s only a season and a third removed from batting .264/.329/.583 in 79 plate appearances with Cincinnati. That was the final season of a limited but productive six-year stretch that saw the lefty-swinging walk machine bat .268/.362/.412 while drawing a free pass in 11.2% of his plate appearances. Martini regularly posts gaudy walk rates in the minors and has had little trouble frequenting the basepaths in Triple-A, as evidenced by his career .294/.399/.454 slash in parts of eight seasons at the top minor league level.

Brooks, 35, opened the 2025 season with el Caliente de Durango in the Mexican League. He’s posted an unsightly 5.92 ERA in 38 innings so far, although in the supercharged run-scoring environment of that league, a 5.92 mark is actually a slight bit better than the 5.99 league average. Brooks has fanned only 14.6% of his opponents but also touts a sharp 4.6% walk rate.

Brooks pitched for the A’s just last season — his third stint with the A’s dating all the way back to the time he was traded to Oakland alongside Sean Manaea in a deal that shipped Ben Zobrist to the eventual 2015 World Series champion Royals. Last year, Brooks tossed 26 2/3 big league innings and logged a 5.06 ERA with a similarly poor strikeout rate (10.1%) and strong command (6.7% walk rate).

If he ends up back in the majors, Brooks will be in his seventh season with at least some big league time. He’s totaled 206 2/3 innings in the majors and logged a 6.36 ERA, a 15.3% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate between the Royals, A’s, Orioles and Cardinals. In addition to that MLB work, Brooks enjoyed a strong two-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization and has pitched a 4.65 ERA in 720 Triple-A innings.

The A’s have five starting pitchers on the injured list and have seen healthy rotation candidates like Osvaldo Bido and Joey Estes pitch poorly in 2025. Brooks is hardly a high-ceiling addition, but he’ll give them some more depth. On the position-player side of things, the A’s have Miguel Andujar on the IL, have already passed Seth Brown through waivers (though he’s reportedly coming back today), and recently optioned a struggling JJ Bleday to Triple-A (though he’s since been recalled). Martini gives them an experienced option to stash in Triple-A.

Rockies Make Several Roster Moves

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The Rockies announced a slate of roster moves Tuesday, reinstating young righty Chase Dollander from the 15-day IL and placing fellow right-hander Tanner Gordon on the 15-day IL in his place, due to a strained left oblique. Gordon’s IL placement is retroactive to May 31. Colorado also placed righty Zach Agnos on the bereavement list and recalled right-hander Angel Chivilli. Additionally, infielder Aaron Schunk and outfielder Nick Martini cleared waivers and were assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per the MiLB.com transaction log. Martini elected free agency. Schunk has the right to do the same, by virtue of a prior outright assignment earlier this year, but there’s no indication he’s done so.

Dollander, 23, was the No. 9 overall pick in 2023 and entered the season ranked as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects. He’s had a handful of rough starts since making his MLB debut in April but looked to be righting the ship prior to landing on the IL due to forearm tightness. Dollander held opponents to two runs or fewer in three of his four appearances prior to the injury and had rattled off 10 2/3 innings with three runs allowed (2.53 ERA) and a 13-to-5 K/BB ratio in a pair of road starts against the Rangers and D-backs.

Dollander will slot right back into the Rockies’ rotation and start tonight’s game in Miami, per the team. As one might expect, the right-hander has been far better on the road in his young career than at Denver’s hitter-friendly home park. Dollander has made four starts at Coors Field and four on the road, working to an 8.66 ERA at home compared to a 4.29 mark in other venues. Overall, he carries a 6.28 ERA with a roughly average 22.1% strikeout rate, an elevated 10.5% walk rate and a massive 2.33 HR/9 mark (with six of his ten home runs allowed coming at home).

The 27-year-old Gordon was a sixth-round pick by the Braves back in 2019. He landed with the Rox alongside reliever Victor Vodnik in the trade that sent Pierce Johnson to Atlanta a couple years back. Gordon was rocked for an 8.65 ERA in eight starts during last year’s debut campaign but has provided a more serviceable 4.24 ERA with a 14.1% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 41.4% grounder rate in three starts (17 innings) so far in 2025. The team didn’t specify the severity of Gordon’s strain, nor was a timetable for his return provided.

Martini, 34, was designated for assignment last week. He totaled 111 plate appearances as a Rockie and hit .225/.288/.294 despite being deployed almost exclusively in platoon-friendly situations. Only five of the lefty-swinging Martini’s plate appearances came versus southpaws.

Over a six-year span from 2018-23, Martini batted .268/.362/.412 with an 11.2% walk rate in 412 plate appearances in the majors. He’s always walked at a huge clip and has been an on-base machine in the upper minors, playing parts of eight Triple-A seasons churning out a .294/.399/.454 batting line in that time. He’ll be a depth option for teams looking for left-handed bats, but he’ll probably need to sign a minor league deal after struggling at the plate in both 2024 and 2025.

The 27-year-old Schunk went 6-for-28 with a double in 29 plate appearances in his second year of partial MLB work with Colorado. The 2019 second-round pick hit .234/.265/.330 in 98 big league plate appearances last year. Schunk shows solid contact skills in Triple-A and has played all four infield spots — primarily third base — but doesn’t walk often or provide much power.

Schunk is a career .291/.346/.469 hitter in 880 Triple-A plate appearances, but given the intensely hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League (and Albuquerque’s home park, in particular), that’s actually about 12% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Assuming he sticks with the organization, he’ll give the Rockies some righty-hitting infield depth at multiple positions.

Rockies Designate Nick Martini For Assignment

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The Rockies announced Friday that outfielder Nick Martini has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to fellow outfielder Sam Hilliard, who’s back for another stint with the Rockies and has had his contract selected from Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado also reinstated infielder Thairo Estrada from the 60-day injured list and optioned infielder Adael Amador to Albuquerque.

Martini, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rox over the winter and broke camp with the club after a big spring performance. He’s received 111 plate appearances in the first two months and been shielded almost entirely from left-handed pitching (just five plate appearances) but has only mustered a .225/.288/.294 line at the plate. It’s a second straight season of struggles, as Martini logged a tepid .212/.272/.370 in 163 plate appearances with the 2024 Reds.

As recently as 2023, Martini posted a .264/.329/.583 slash in an admittedly small sample of of 79 plate appearances with Cincinnati. From 2018-23, he received sparse big league playing time — despite an excellent Triple-A track record — and hit .268/.362/.412 with an 11.2% walk rate in 412 plate appearances. Martini has always walked at a huge clip and has been an on-base machine in the upper minors; he’s played in parts of eight Triple-A seasons and is a .294/.399/.454 hitter there.

Obviously, that type of production didn’t play out in 2025. The Rockies will either trade Martini or place him on waivers within the next week. Assuming he clears, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Hilliard returns for what’ll be his sixth season with the Rockies. He was a 15th-round pick by Colorado back in 2015 and suited up with the Rox from 2019-22 before bouncing to the Orioles and Braves via waivers. He appeared in 40 games with the 2023 Braves, then returned to the Rockies via waivers in February 2024. He’s since been removed from the 40-man roster but chose to stick with the Rockies and accepted an outright assignment.

Hilliard is having a nice season in Triple-A. The 31-year-old is batting .288/.372/.538 — about 15% better than league average in that hitter-friendly setting, by measure of wRC+ — and has swatted six home runs along the way. He’s striking out too often (26.1%), as is typical for him, but he’s also drawn walks at a hearty 12.2% clip.

The 31-year-old Hilliard is heading back for what’ll be his seventh partial season in the big leagues. He’s long shown an intriguing blend of power and speed, but his inability to consistently make contact has left him with a .219/.296/.438 batting line in 875 major league plate appearances. Hillard has struck out in a massive 34.1% of those trips to the plate.

Estrada, 29, will make his team debut when he first takes the field. Colorado signed him to a one-year, $4MM contract over the offseason, but he’s missed the entire year so far after suffering a broken wrist when he was hit by a pitch in spring training.

A longtime division rival, Estrada had a mostly productive run in four years with the Giants. From 2021-23, he hit a combined .266/.320/.416 with strong glovework around the infield. He was San Francisco’s primary second baseman for much of his time there and enjoyed consecutive seasons with 14 home runs and 20-plus steals in 2022-23.

Estrada’s production tanked in 2024, however. He hit .217/.247/.343 in 381 plate appearances while battling a pair of sprains in his left wrist (the opposite wrist from the one he fractured this spring). The Rox signed him hoping for a rebound, which could still play out, but Estrada has now missed time in three straight seasons due to hand/wrist injuries, making it fair to wonder what type of toll that may ultimately take on his offensive output.

Rockies Select Nick Martini, Option Zac Veen

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The Rockies announced a series of roster moves this afternoon, highlighted by the club’s decisions to select outfielder Nick Martini’s contract and option outfielder Zac Veen to Triple-A. The Rockies’s 40-man roster stands at 40 after the addition of Martini.

Martini, 35 in June, figures to replace the recently-traded Nolan Jones in left field for the Rockies entering the year. A seventh-round pick by the Cardinals all the way back in 2011, Martini toiled in the minor leagues for several years before finally making his big league debut with Oakland back in 2018. He got into only 55 games for the A’s that year, but hit quite well with a .296/.397/.414 slash line in 179 trips to the plate. Things took a turn for the worse from there, however, as Martini hit just .238/.338/.315 in 57 games from 2019 to 2021 while jumping between the A’s, Padres, and Cubs.

Those lackluster numbers led Martini to try his luck overseas, and he hit a strong .296/.365/.461 in 139 games as a regular for the KBO’s NC Dinos. That served as a springboard that allowed him to return to the majors with the Reds for the 2023 season, and Martini made the most of the opportunity as he hit an excellent .264/.329/.583 in a brief 29-game stint with the club. Cincinnati was impressed enough to keep Martini in the fold last year, though his numbers took a nosedive as he hit just .212/.272/.370 in 52 games for the Reds last year. Martini departed the Reds following that down year and caught on with the Rockies on a minor league deal this winter.

He entered the spring as a long shot for a big league job, but has crushed the ball to the tune of a .389/.511/.556 showing in 16 spring games this year. That performance, combined with the club’s recent move to trade Jones back to Cleveland, cleared the way for Martini to make the Opening Day roster, where he seems poised to platoon with Sean Bouchard in left field.

Veen, meanwhile, was in competition with Jordan Beck and Bouchard for the everyday right field job but will now head to the minor leagues to begin the year. The 23-year-old was Colorado’s first-round pick back in 2020, Veen was a consensus top-50 prospect early in his pro career but has been limited to just 111 games by injuries over the past two years. 2023 saw him struggle to a lackluster .209/.304/.308 in 46 games, but last year Veen bounced back in 65 appearances, with a strong .258/.346/.459 line split mostly between the Double- and Triple-A levels. Like Martini, Veen has enjoyed an incredible spring as he’s hit .298/.375/.509 in 25 games for the Rockies during camp.

Unfortunately for Veen, it appears that strong performance wasn’t enough to force his way onto the roster even after the Jones trade cleared an outfield spot. With Veen now ticketed for Triple-A, he’ll look to build on the 21 games of experience he got at the level last year and stay healthy as he waits for his first big league opportunity. Should an injury to the big league outfield mix occur, Veen’s status on the 40-man roster could give him a leg up over some potential alternative options, though Greg Jones and Yanquiel Fernandez are both on the 40 as well.

Rockies To Sign Keston Hiura, Nick Martini To Minor League Deals

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The Rockies have agreed to minor league deals with infielder Keston Hiura and outfielder Nick Martini, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both players will receive an invite to Colorado’s major league spring camp. Hiura is represented by CAA Sports, while Martini is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Hiura, 28, has shown huge power potential in the majors. Unfortunately, that has been undercut by a massive strikeout problem. At this point, he has 1,084 major league plate appearances. 50 of those resulted in homers but 390 ended with a strikeout, a 36% punchout rate.

In 2024, he was only in the majors briefly, as the Angeles had him on the roster for a few weeks in July. He got 27 plate appearances in 10 games, hitting .148 with ten strikeouts. He also stepped to the plate 364 times at the Triple-A level, between the Tigers’ and Angels’ systems, hitting 26 home runs but striking out 29.4% of the time. Defensively, Hiura came up as a second baseman but his glovework hasn’t been well regarded at that spot. That’s led him to spend more time at first base, with a few stops in left field along the way.

With the big strikeouts and lack of defensive contributions, Hiura hasn’t managed to contribute much in his career yet. However, he’s a fine enough depth add for the Rockies. They’ve lost over 100 games in two straight seasons now, so competing in 2025 will be a challenge. There could be a path to playing time in the club’s first base/designated hitter mix. Kris Bryant will be one option there but he’s coming off three straight injury-marred seasons. Michael Toglia is also in the mix but he’s fairly Hiura-esque himself, having hit 25 home runs last year with a 32.1% strikeout rate.

Perhaps an injury to someone in that group, or someone in the corner outfield mix, could open up some playing time for Hiura. If he gets a roster spot, watching him hit at Coors Field could make for a good show. He is out of options but has less than four years of service time.

Martini, 35 in June, has a far less extreme profile. He has 575 career plate appearances over five separate seasons. His 9.6% walk rate and 21.7% strikeout rate are both slightly better than average. His .252/.336/.400 batting line leads to a 101 wRC+, indicating he’s been very slightly above average as a hitter in his career. Defensively, he’s played all three outfield slots, though mostly in left. His glovework there has been graded just a shade below par.

The outfield mix in Colorado projects to include Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones, Sam Hilliard, Jordan Beck, Greg Jones, Sean Bouchard, Zac Veen and others. If Martini gets a roster spot at any point, he is out of options but has less than three years of service time.

Ty France Elects Free Agency

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The Reds announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably revealing that first baseman Ty France cleared waivers and elected free agency. He would’ve been arbitration-eligible and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.6MM in his final season of club control. Today’s outright and subsequent free agency election is effectively an early non-tender.

Cincinnati also passed catcher Austin Wynns, righty Tejay Antone and outfielder Nick Martini through waivers unclaimed. Like France, Wynns and Martini opted for free agency. Antone accepted an outright assignment and will remain with the club and continue mending from the third elbow surgery of his career.

France, 30, was an offensive force for his first three years with the Mariners from 2020-22, hitting a combined .285/.355/.443 with 42 homers, 68 doubles and three triples in 1418 plate appearances. He rarely struck out (16.7%), hit plenty of line drives and, after spending much of his minor league career playing other positions, worked his way into becoming an above-average defender at first base.

The 2023 season was a step back in all regards. France’s batting line slipped to .250/.337/.366 — still respectable but nowhere near his prior levels, particularly in the power department. His production dwindled further this year, and the Mariners designated him for assignment after he mustered only a .223/.312/.350 line in 88 games. The Reds swung a trade to acquire France in hope that a change of scenery would improve his output. France’s rate stats modestly improved, but not to the extent that one might hope when going from the league’s most pitcher-friendly stadium in Seattle to its most homer-happy park in Cincinnati. He finished the year at .234/.305/.365 between the two clubs.

France will now head to the free-agent market for the first time but do so coming off a sub-optimal platform spanning two years of struggles. He’ll likely be limited to one-year offers and guarantees well shy of the $8.6MM he’d been projected to earn in arbitration.

Wynns, 33, is the consummate journeyman backup catcher. He’s a career .230/.277/.332 hitter in 673 plate appearances split among five big league teams. He’s been with six different organization since the Orioles selected him in the tenth round of the 2013 draft. Wynns is regarded as a sound defender but has never provided much from an offensive standpoint.

Martini, 34, cracked the Reds’ Opening Day roster and belted a pair of homers in their first game of the season. It was downhill from there, however. He hit just .204/.266/.324 over his next 159 plate appearances before suffering a sprained thumb that ended his season in early July. Martini is a career .294/.399/.454 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A seasons and a .252/.336/.400 hitter in 575 big league plate appearances.

Reds Outright Alan Busenitz

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Reds right-hander Alan Busenitz went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll have the opportunity to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, though he can become a minor league free agent at season’s end anyhow. Cincinnati also reinstated outfielder/designated hitter Nick Martini from the 60-day injured list and opened a 40-man roster spot by transferring southpaw Brandon Williamson from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Martini was optioned rather than being added to the active roster.

Busenitz, 34, has allowed six runs in four innings with Cincinnati this season and eight runs in 11 frames over the past two seasons combined. The journeyman right-hander has spent the bulk of his time with the Reds organization in Triple-A, He’s had a solid season in Louisville this year, logging 66 1/3 innings of 4.07 ERA ball with a 21.6% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.

Busenitz came to the Reds organization on a minor league deal after a nice four-year run in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he worked to a 2.83 ERA across four seasons with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Prior to that NPB stint, he pitched in parts of two seasons with the Twins, posting a 1.99 ERA in 31 2/3 innings as a rookie in 2017 before being shelled for a 7.82 ERA in 25 1/3 innings the following season. In all, he’s pitched 68 big league innings with a 4.90 ERA.

Martini tore a ligament in his thumb back in July on a headfirst slide into second base. He underwent surgery a couple days later and ultimately missed more than two months of action. The 34-year-old opened the season on a tear, blasting a pair of Opening Day homers and hitting .290/.303/.677 through his first 11 games. He then fell into a prolonged slump before being optioned to Louisville in early May. The well-traveled outfielder hit .212/.272/.370 in 162 plate appearances with the Reds and carries a career .252/.336/.400 line in 575 big league plate appearances. The Reds can control him for another four seasons, but there’s a good chance he’ll be removed from the 40-man roster after the season and wind up a minor league free agent.

Reds Select Tony Santillan

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The Reds announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Tony Santillan. To make room or Santillan on the 40-man and active rosters, outfielder Nick Martini was transferred to the 60-day injured list while right-hander Carson Spiers was placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder impingement.

It’s far from Santillan’s first stint in the majors with Cincinnati. The 27-year-old was a second-round pick by the club back in 2015 and made his debut with the club back in 2021, when he was one of the club’s top relievers. In 43 1/3 innings of work that season, Santillan posted a strong 2.91 ERA (162 ERA+) despite a somewhat lackluster 4.62 FIP in 26 games. While Santillan struck out an excellent 29.5% of opponents, his 11.1% walk rate and his seven homers allowed both weighed that down somewhat.

Those issues, combined with a back strain that sidelined Santillan for much of the 2022 campaign and the early part of the 2023 season, left the right-hander on the outside looking in of the club’s bullpen mix going forward, however. Over those two injury-marred seasons, Santillan struggled to a 5.09 ERA with a 4.52 FIP, 19.3% strikeout rate, and 14.9% walk rate while pitching just 23 total frames in the majors. His work in the minors last year wasn’t much better, as he was torched to the tune of a 7.88 ERA in 35 appearances at the Triple-A level last season.

Despite that rough performance, the Reds nonetheless re-signed Santillan to a minor league deal this past offseason, and that decision has largely paid off. The righty has looked much better at Triple-A this season than he did a year ago, posting a 3.49 ERA with a 3.87 FIP in 38 2/3 innings of work as a single-inning reliever. While his 13.2% walk rate is still elevated as ever, his strikeout rate has bounced back in a big way to compensate: he’s fanned 30.5% of opponents this year. That high strikeout rate was a big part of what made him so successful in 2021, and given that it’s hardly a surprise that the Reds would be interested in seeing what he can do at the big league level.

Making room for Santillan on the Cincinnati roster is Spiers, who has emerged as a quality middle relief arm for the Reds this year after struggling in his first taste of big league action last season. The 26-year-old posted an ERA north of 6.00 in 13 innings of work in 2023 but has emerged looking far better this season with a solid 3.83 ERA and even more impressive numbers under the hood while swinging between the rotation and bullpen this year. While Spiers has only struck out 20.5% of batters faced this year, an excellent 4.5% walk rate has left him with a 3.51 FIP and a 3.86 SIERA, both of which are well above average marks. Fortunately, Spiers told reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer) this afternoon that his injury figures to be only a short-term issue and that he expects to miss just one start.

As for Martini, the outfielder’s transfer to the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise given the fact that he underwent surgery on his thumb earlier this week. Martini’s timetable for return isn’t entirely clear, though he’s expected to be able to return before the end of the year. That return now won’t come until after September 5, 60 days after he was first sidelined by the injury. In 163 trips to the plate with the Reds this year, Martini has slashed a lackluster .212/.272/.370.

Reds’ Nick Martini Undergoes Thumb Surgery

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Reds outfielder/designated hitter Nick Martini underwent surgery yesterday to repair ligament damage in his thumb, manager David Bell informed the team’s beat (X link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). A firm timeline for his recovery wasn’t provided, but Bell noted there’s still a chance Martini could return before season’s end.

Martini was placed on the injured list over the weekend due to an issue in his left thumb. He suffered the injury when he jammed his thumb on a headfirst slide into second base the day prior. The 34-year-old Martini got out to a blistering start in 2024, ripping a pair of Opening Day homers and batting .290/.303/.677 through his first 11 games. He then fell into a prolonged slump before being optioned to Triple-A Louisville on May 7.

Martini has twice been optioned to Louisville this season, and both times he’s laid waste to upper-minors pitching. In 60 plate appearances, he’s delivered a .340/.467/.681 batting line with four homers and as many walks as strikeouts (11). That certainly suggests the thumb hadn’t been bothering him prior to that ill-fated slide and that the bulk or entirety of the damage came on that one isolated play.

The overall .212/.272/.370 slash that Martini has turned in this season for the Reds is quite a ways below par, but he has a history of drawing walks and posting solid OBPs at the MLB level. In 575 MLB plate appearances, Martini is a .252/.336/.400 hitter. He’s also consistently been an OBP machine in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .295/.400/.451 in 2246 career plate appearances.

Martini will get big league pay and service time while he mends from that surgery. The injury could also give the Reds some 40-man roster flexibility, as it seems quite possible based on Bell’s nebulous recovery timeframe that he’ll require 60 days on the injured list.

Reds Select Blake Dunn

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Blake Dunn from Triple-A Louisville, with infielder/outfielder Nick Martini optioned in a corresponding move. They already had an open 40-man spot after first baseman Mike Ford was designated for assignment last week.

Dunn, 25, was a 15th-round selection of the Reds in 2021 and collected a bonus of $125K. As one would expect with that modest draft selection and bonus, Dunn wasn’t considered one of the club’s top prospects, but he has improved his stock with some strong play lately.

Last year, he got into 124 minor league contests, split between High-A and Double-A. He drew a walk in 11.1% of his 559 plate appearances and also hit 23 home runs. He finished the year with a combined batting line of .312/.425/.522 and a 158 wRC+ while also stealing 54 bases and playing all three outfield positions.

Coming into 2024, Baseball America ranked him the #14 prospect in the organization while FanGraphs had him at #15, though he hasn’t carried over his tremendous offensive showing from 2023. The Reds bumped him to Triple-A and his walk rate is up to 13.3% but his strikeouts are also up to a 30.6% rate, a big jump from last year’s 23.3% clip. He’s slashing .223/.348/.378 on the year overall, production which translates to a 94 wRC+.

Even with the bat seeming to take a bit of a step back, Dunn could still be useful with his speed and defense. He’s swiped another nine bags already this year without being caught. The Reds have a regular outfield rotation consisting of left-handed hitters TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Jacob Hurtubise and Will Benson, as well as the right-handed hitting Stuart Fairchild.

Since Dunn is also a righty, perhaps he will take some playing time in the short side of a platoon and shield some of those lefty swingers from tough southpaws, while also doing some pinch running and taking some late-game defensive replacement duties. He’s hitting .250/.298/.558 against lefties so far this year, compared to just .208/.372/.281 without the platoon advantage. Dunn will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

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