This year the Cincinnati Reds have sent shockwaves through the baseball world. From Elly De La Cruz’s cycle to Will Benson’s walk-off homerun, the Reds have had a long journey to get to where they are now. Starting off the spring training season with not much success, the fans didn’t expect much from them this year. When opening day came on March 30th the Reds fell to 5-4 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The roster included guys like Jason Vosler, Jose Barrero, Wil Myers, Luis Cessa, and Joel Kuhnel who are all no longer part of the team. The Reds started off slowly until late April and then something changed for them. With a 3-0 sweep against the Texas Rangers who were a very good team, the Reds realized they could be something special.

Then on May 15th against the Colorado Rockies, the Reds made their first call-up for 2 of their top prospects, Matt Mclain and Brandon Williamson. The shortstop Mclain, came out of the Reds AAA team the Louisville Bats. Many fans wanted the Reds to call Mclain up for a while and when they finally did, the fanbase was ecstatic. The other prospect Brandon Williamson who is a starting pitcher for the organization came out of AAA Louisville. Fans were very confused when he was called up and some were even mad because of how poor his play was in AAA Louisville, but Williamson has since proved everyone wrong. On June 5th the Reds called up their #1 pitching prospect, the left-handed pitcher Andrew Abbott. Abbott started the 2023 season with AA Chattanooga Lookouts and then was quickly promoted to AAA Louisville. Abbott is now the Reds’ best pitcher since being called up.

On June 6th, 2023 the Cincinnati Reds did something that would change their season. They called up the #1 prospect in Baseball. Elly De La Cruz. Signed out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2018 for only $65,000. After just losing the series 3-1 to the Milwaukee Brewers the Reds decided they needed a spark. They called up Elly De La Cruz to the big leagues. After starting the year late in AAA Louisville due to an injury at the beginning of the season, he quickly rose to the top of the list of MLB prospects. Then came his MLB debut, a night game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He started off the game with a Double into right-center field for his first MLB hit. De La Cruz got standing ovations every time he went up to bat. The Reds ended up winning that game 9-8 off a walkoff by their other rookie star Matt Mclain. The following night on June 7th Elly De La Cruz hit his first home run with a 458-foot shot to right field, almost leaving the stadium and going into the Ohio River. With the game tight throughout the night Will Benson came up to the plate. A new outfielder in their organization that they had just traded with the Cleveland Guardians to get. He had never hit a home run in his 2-year career but on that June 7th night he did the unthinkable. After the count reached 2 balls and 2 strikes the pitcher delivered the pitch to the right-handed hitting Will Benson. Benson crushed the baseball 420 feet into right field. Benson, who had never hit a home run in the major leagues in his life, had just hit the best home run the Reds have seen this season. Benson who had his struggles early on in the year had just changed his career around and has been on the incline ever since that June day. Then on June 23rd just a little while after his debut and his first homerun, Elly De La Cruz hit for the cycle. He started off the game with a double, and then in his second at-bat he hit a home run. Then in his third at-bat, he hit a single, and then finally he hit a ball into right-center field almost becoming his second home run of the game, he scored Jonathan India who was on base and Elly made it all the way to third base completing the cycle. Becoming the first Reds player to do so since Eric Davis in June of 1989. That was the loudest that Great American Ballpark had ever been. Since then De La Cruz has taken the baseball world by storm becoming one of the biggest faces of Major League Baseball.

The Reds have recently been ranked as having a top farm system in the MLB. A farm system is all the team’s prospects grinding to get to the MLB. The Reds farm teams include AAA Louisville, AA Chattanooga, A+ Dayton, A Daytona, Arizona Complex, and Dominican Summer teams. The Reds have recently struck gold in their farm systems by trading for guys like Shortstop Victor Acosta, Pitcher Chase Petty, Pitcher Connor Phillips, and Shortstop Edwin Arroyo just to name a few. They’ve also had success in the draft with guys like their 2 past first-round picks Third Baseman Cam Collier and Pitcher Rhett Lowder. A top prospect to watch is right-handed pitcher Ricky Karcher. Karcher is a member of the Louisville Bats currently and has been up with the Reds once already this year earning the first save of his career in his MLB debut, the first Red to do so since saves became an official stat in 1969. Also with recent call-ups who were former top prospects like Matt Mclain, Elly De La Cruz, and Noelvi Marte. The Reds and general manager Nick Krall have really been stressing to improve their farm system by trading their major league players for prospects. Some fans have not been happy with the recent moves because in doing so the major league team is not as good. They are more of a win later than win now, some fans would say. I have been to multiple minor league games this year within the Reds system. I have been to the AAA Louisville Bats games 4 times this year and one A+ Dayton Dragons game within the last year. So I have seen this young talent close up. A very interesting prospect in the Reds organization is Dayton Shortstop Edwin Arroyo. Arroyo is very young, he just turned 20 on September 25th. He can actually hit from both sides of the plate which is called a switch hitter and is rare to see in baseball but can really help as a hitter. Arroyo has another specialty that not many others have. He can actually throw the ball well with both of his hands left and right. When he was younger he hurt his right arm so instead of sitting out and missing baseball he quickly learned to throw with his left hand so he wouldn’t miss any time and ever since then he’s been a switch thrower. The Reds are currently ranked as the 5th best farm system in all of Major League Baseball and they should continue to shoot up those rankings in years to come.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview first baseman in the Reds Organization and current Chattanooga Lookout, Alex McGarry. McGarry was named the best hitter in all of the Reds minor leagues last year and was invited to major league spring training this year. In the interview, I asked him various questions about playing with the Reds this year, the success of the Lookouts and Reds, and how that success has impacted their season so far. My first question was: What was it like when you first knew that you were being invited to spring training as a non-roster invitee Also what was that spring training experience like being around all the big league guys? McGarry said, “It was very exciting! I knew it was a great opportunity to learn from guys that had been there before and played at the big league level. It was also informative to see how they go about their daily routines, and their work ethics. You also learn that the big league guys are human just like the rest of us.” My next question was: What was it like this year when the Lookouts won the north division first half and clinched the playoffs and what was that like in the clubhouse? Also, how have you all been preparing for the upcoming playoffs? McGarry said “Clinching was one of my favorite memories in my professional career. Everyone wanted to win the first half so bad, because our team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017. When we won, we had champagne in the locker room and threw a party. We’re preparing for the playoffs by trying to play high level baseball to finish the regular season so we have that momentum going into the playoffs!” My last and final question was How has the success of the Lookouts and Reds impacted this season so far? Are there things like more fans coming to the games and just a better overall energy around the ballpark? McGarry said, “The reds having success makes all of us want to play better! We feel like we can contribute to the big league team, because so much of the big league team is made up of players from the reds minor leagues. There’s a lot of fans because they know any of us could be the next star for the reds!”

The Reds won 12 games straight this season before coming to a 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The 12-game streak was the longest since the 1957 Reds team. The Reds have been to the World Series on 9 different occasions and they won 5 of those with the last one coming in 1990. They have had various playoff appearances since then but haven’t been able to capitalize on them. As of now, the Reds have a pretty good shot at making the playoffs as the season ends on October 1st. In their last appearance in the playoffs in 2020. Losing in the wild card series to the Atlanta Braves 2-0 in the series. That team was capitalized by ace Trevor Bauer who had won the CY Young award. The CY Young is awarded to the most outstanding pitcher in the league. Currently, Bauer is playing in Japan after he had faced legal issues in the United States and no team wanted to take a chance on him after his suspension by the MLB. The team also featured star players like Nick Castellanos, Jesse Winker, and Eugenio Suarez who are all now in different organizations. The team also included young stars like Aristides Aquino and Jose Garcia who has since changed his name to Jose Barrero. Aquino has since been playing in Japan after the Reds chose not to re-sign him and no other teams wanted him either. Barrero is still with the Reds and is currently playing in AAA Louisville after not being able to perform at a major league level consistently. Hopefully, the Reds can capitalize on this historic and eventful season as well as for many seasons to come in the near future.