A little more than three weeks ago the Cincinnati Reds had a deadline to meet and add minor league players to the 40-man roster who would otherwise have been eligible for next week’s Rule 5 draft. The front office made the decision to add two players. Infielder/outfielder Tyler Callihan and right-handed reliever Luis Mey were added after completing their stints in the Arizona Fall League. Mey took a few weeks off, but joined the Estrellas in the Dominican Winter League in late November and has pitched in three games.
Not all ballparks in the Arizona Fall League have public data for pitch tracking, but several of them do. Mey, known as one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the minor leagues, threw 47 of the 50 fastest pitches in the league this year – including all 34 of the fastest (which were between 99.9 and 101.8 MPH). Both the Puerto Rican Winter League and the Dominican Winter League also have some ballparks that have pitch/hit tracking data that’s available. No one in Puerto Rico has come close to triple digits so far, with the fastest pitch in the league being 96.0 MPH. That’s not the case in the Dominican Winter League where there have been 91 pitches of at least 100.0 MPH (six pitches make up all of these pitches).
The fastest offering in the league entering Thursday night was 102.0 MPH. That was by Luis Mey in his second outing for the Estrellas (and the first where there was pitch tracking data). But last night he topped that, bringing a 102.4 MPH fastball to the plate against Yerlin Mercedes, who fouled the ball off before eventually flying out to end the top of the 8th inning.
It’s been a dominant fall/winter for Luis Mey in 2024. He allowed one hit in 8.2 innings pitched out of the bullpen for Glendale while in Arizona and he walked just two batters. Since joining the Estrellas a little over a week ago he’s pitched in three more games and has allowed one hit in 2.2 innings, but he walked three batters in his first outing and another one in his second outing.
Control has been an issue throughout the minor league career of Mey and even while giving up just two hits thus far in 11.1 innings of winter league baseball, he’s walked six batters to go along with having 10 strikeouts against the 41 hitters he has been matched up against.
Other winter league updates
There are 14 players from the Reds organization who have played some winter league baseball this year outside of the Arizona Fall League. Not many of those 14 are getting regular time on the field, though. Besides Mey, who just recently began playing, only outfield prospect Hector Rodriguez and infielder Noelvi Marte are playing regularly right now.
Marte’s team was actually playing Luis Mey’s team on Thursday night. But the game was a bit of a blowout and it led to Marte being pinch hit for in the 8th inning instead of getting to face Mey. The Reds infielder had singled in the 1st inning of the game before popping up to 1st base in each of his next two at-bats. In the 7th inning he would double, starting a 4-run rally for his club that extended their lead to 9-0.
The two hits for Marte on Thursday night raised his line to .230/.288/.361 through 16 games for the Gigantes. His 2-hit night was the first multi-hit game he has had out of his last eight games and only his second in his last 12. He’s had some struggles so far, but he’s also picked up an extra-base hit in three of his last five games. Marte’s been making plenty of contact – his strikeout rate is just 15% in his 66 plate appearances, but the hits just haven’t been coming along with all of that contact.
The same kind of thing can not be said for outfielder Hector Rodriguez. He missed a week-and-a-half at the end of November before returning to the starting lineup on Wednesday night. He went 3-5 in that game and went 1-5 with an RBI on Thursday for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. The 20-year-old, who spent his entire 2024 season in High-A with the Dayton Dragons, is now hitting .347/.358/.429 in 13 games. He, like Marte, is making plenty of contact – sporting a strikeout rate of 13.2%, but he’s also walked just twice in his 53 plate appearances. When he’s made contact the hits have piled up for him.
