You probably forgot about him, but us at Nati Sports HQ haven’t, and I bet the Cincinnati Reds haven’t, either. Edwin Arroyo has been on fire in AA since July and it’s been a consistent on fire. No, he isn’t hitting a ton of homeruns, he likely never will, and we know that’s what’s usually exciting to baseball fans, but this dude is doing it in other ways in AA Chattanooga.
Edwin Arroyo Is Known For Defense, But…
Edwin Arroyo has always been a glove-first prospect, but what he’s been doing offensively after an extremely strenuous and notoriously career defining shoulder surgery (torn labrum) is something to be raising your eyes at.
Arroyo, someone who has dropped out of a few top 100 prospect listings, but still in the Reds’ on several rankings, has been on fire in AA Chattanooga for the Lookouts from July through today, in August, signaling his shoulder has healed appropiately. Like we mentioned above, it hasn’t been ‘sexy’ offense which is what we all like to see with HRs, but it’s been ‘getting it done’ and he’s created tremendous value.
His slashline currently reads .285/.348/.389/.727 which doesn’t stick out, but if he can mimick this at the MLB level, the Reds could deploy a very good contact hitter that can hit from both boxes that will play at a gold glove level defensively. Since the start of the second half, Edwin is slashing .307/.373/.429/.802 which is why I believe the longer his shoulder has to heal, the better he’ll be.
Use code “NATISPORTS” to save $20 off your tickets!
Homers Don’t Mean Everything, per Reds
Chris Valaika is notorious for almost ‘hating’ homeruns. No, but literally. I have a feeling the new hitting coordinator is a lot of the reason the Reds were reluctant to include Arroyo in trade packages at the deadline. Arroyo does run into them from time to time, but he only has 3 HRs on the season in AA in 393 ABs. Definitely not a HR guy.
However, even though we all recognize his lack of power, he’s still only 22 years old, and growing into his 5’11” frame. There’s a lot of baseball IQ packed into this kid, and he’s arguably the most baseball savvy prospect the Reds have. That’s where we get into his value add offensively…
Dating back to July 1st, 2025 when Arroyo faced the White Sox’s AA team, he has a 131 WRC+ with a .379 wOBA and a .350 BABIP. Everything he’s done has been VERY sustainable. He’s also running a very reasonable 9.5 BB%, and 14.5% K% – borderline elite. He isn’t striking out much at all.
What’s next for Edwin Arroyo?
One would hope he’ll be promoted to AAA Louisville shortly. As it stands, Davis Wendzel and Trey Faltine have been sharing time at shortshop in Louisville. Neither of these two will sniff the big leagues, but perhaps more fairly put, they aren’t viewed like Edwin is in the Reds org.
With that said, Edwin deserves the promotion and to face some more polished strikethrowers in AAA. It’ll get him one step closer to hopefully playing in the big leagues. If the Reds are keeping him in AA to protect his trade value, his performance in September won’t matter. They need to promote him now and get him a step closer. His value defensively is tremendous. If he can switch hit and give the Reds a daily bat while playing gold glove caliber defense, the Reds won that Luis Castillo trade by a landslide.
