The Reds are set to call up infield prospect Matt McLain, according to Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer. McLain is expected to make his MLB debut when the Reds open a series against the Rockies on Monday. Since McLain isn’t on the 40-man roster, Cincinnati may have to make more than one transaction to accommodate his promotion onto the active roster.
The 17th overall pick of the 2021 draft, McLain was a highly touted player in his college days at UCLA, and he has made a quick rise through Cincinnati’s farm system. His breakout year at Triple-A seemed to clinch his promotion, as McLain has hit an outstanding .346/.464/.713 with 12 homers over 168 plate appearances at Triple-A Louisville this season.
Even with just 37 games under his belt at the Triple-A level, these numbers are awfully hard to ignore, and so the 23-year-old will now embark on his next test in the Show. While McLain has played a good deal of second base in the minors, he has exclusively played shortstop this year, and now looks to supplant the Kevin Newman/Jose Barrero combination at shortstop.
McLain was cited on the top-100 prospect lists from MLB Prospectus (77th) and MLB Pipeline (87th) prior to the 2022 season, but didn’t receive any top-100 attention heading into this year, though his Triple-A surge moved him back to 95th on Pipeline’s most recent update to their ranking. As per Pipeline’s scouting report, there was concern over McLain’s big spike in strikeouts at Double-A in 2022, as “much of that stemmed from McLain trying to do too much at the plate as he was trying to figure out who he is as a pro hitter and he sold out for power too often.”
To that end, McLain has drastically and impressively cut down on his swing-and-miss this year, with almost as many walks (27) as strikeouts (33) at Louisville. His plus speed has resulted in 10 steals in 15 attempts at Triple-A, but McLain stole 27 bases in 30 tries at Double-A in 2022.
Baseball America’s little report is a little less optimistic about McLain’s future as a regular, saying “he projects as a super-utility player who can play a variety of positions including shortstop in a pinch.” It remains to be seen if shortstop will remain McLain’s long-term position, though beyond just defensive questions, his usage might also be impacted by the Reds’ oncoming rush of talented young infielders. Elly De La Cruz is one of baseball’s elite prospects and is also expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2023, and third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand shouldn’t be too far behind on the shuttle from Louisville. Infielders Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, and Cam Collier are also ranked within Pipeline’s top 100, and of course Jonathan India is already established as the Reds’ second baseman and Spencer Steer has been playing respectably well in his rookie season.
It makes for a pretty nice “problem” for the Reds to have as they sort out who exactly will be part of their infield of the future, and with the team in rebuild mode at least through the rest of 2023, they’ll have plenty of time to keep evaluating these youngsters. McLain will get the first chance at making a first impression, and it could be that he might get bounced around the diamond early if De La Cruz is called up and takes over the shortstop job.
Since McLain wasn’t included on at least two of the preseason top-100 lists from Pipeline, Baseball America or ESPN.com, he won’t qualify for a full year of big league service time even if he finishes in the top two of Rookie Of The Year voting. However, assuming McLain remains in the majors for the rest of 2023, he should bank enough service time to potentially qualify for Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility.
