When the Cincinnati Reds headed to Goodyear in February, Matt McLain was expected to be a big part of the team in 2024. He was coming off of a year in which he played like an All-Star, but a shoulder injury in the field late in the spring would lead to him missing much of the season, and then while rehabbing and trying to get ready to head out on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues he suffered a rib injury that would cost him the remainder of the year.
The Arizona Fall League is usually a place for prospects, but multiple teams are utilizing the league this year as a rehab stint for big league players who are coming off of injuries. Cincinnati sent both Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the league and on Tuesday they made their debuts in the season opener for the Glendale Desert Dogs and announced their presence with authority.
McLain started the game at second base and was hitting second in the lineup. After striking out in his first at-bat, he doubled, walked, and then homered in his final three trips to the plate. His double was a rocket to the wall in left-center that came off of the bat at 106 MPH. Three innings later he clobbered a 398-foot home run to left-center. That would end his day as the Desert Dogs went to the bench and made multiple defensive replacements to begin the next inning. McLain’s replacement on the day happened to be his younger brother Sean McLain, who is a prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who missed much of the 2024 season with a wrist injury, returned to the field post surgery out in Arizona. In his first trip to the plate he came through with a sacrifice fly that scored Reds prospect Tyler Callihan. The next time up he doubled into the left field corner. The ball came off of his bat at 110.3 MPH. So if you had any concerns about how hard he could hit the ball coming off of the injury it feels like you probably shouldn’t be worried all that much. He would single in his third trip to the plate before striking out in the final two at-bats. Encarnacion-Strand finished the day 2-4 with three runs batted in.
While the two big leaguers did their job, the three Reds prospects that also played in the game got things done, too. Tyler Callihan, who spent the year in Double-A, went 1-3 with two walks, a steal, and he scored three runs. Edwin Arroyo, who missed the entire year after a shoulder injury led to shoulder surgery back in March, went 1-3 with a double, run, and an RBI. And then it was reliever Luis Mey who closed out the game with a perfect 9th inning that saw him top out at 101.8 MPH.
If you want to keep tabs on these guys and even watch the games, you can do that plenty. The schedule features 30 games for Glendale and 27 of them are ones that you can stream for free on MLB.com or the MLB App. The funny part of all of this is, is that the three games that are not available to watch are the three games that will be played at the Reds spring training facility at Goodyear Ballpark. You can see the full schedule for the Desert Dogs right here.
