Edwin Arroyo is about to get a new look in Cincinnati, and the Reds are choosing a tough stage to give it to him.
With veteran infielder Ke'Bryan Hayes landing on the injured list earlier this week, the Reds brought Arroyo up from Triple-A Louisville. Now, according to Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard, Arroyo is expected to see time at third base and could start there Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs.
That would put Arroyo in a spot he has barely touched as a pro. He has played only five games at third base in his professional career, which makes this next stretch a real test of how quickly he can handle the switch.
The bat has been there in Louisville. Arroyo has crushed Triple-A pitching this season, hitting .309/.377/.547 with 33 extra-base hits and 13 stolen bases.
But that success has not carried over consistently in the majors. In 45 games with the Reds, he has hit just .242/.284/.280 with four extra-base hits and no home runs.
The defense has been part of the problem too. In those 45 big-league games, Arroyo committed five errors.
Reds manager Terry Francona says he wants to see how this latest opportunity plays out.
"It’ll be interesting to see,” Francona told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard. “A lot of times, when guys come back (to the big leagues), they’re not seeing things for the first time.
They know what to expect. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes.
Kind of exciting to watch.”
There is also a bigger picture here for Cincinnati. The future at third base is unsettled, with Ke’Bryan Hayes struggling mightily and Eugenio Suarez unlikely to have his option picked up for next season.
If Arroyo can show he belongs offensively and hold his own defensively at third, that would be a meaningful development for the Reds’ infield plans.
It also fits a familiar pattern. One criticism of the Reds that has lingered for years is the way they ask players to learn new positions at the big-league level, even when those players have very little experience there.
That has happened with Matt McLain in center field, Noelvi Marte in the outfield and Michael Toglia in left field. In each case, the Reds put a player with limited experience at the position into the majors and asked him to figure it out there.
Arroyo now looks like the latest example. And for a club that has had plenty of trouble developing top prospects in recent years, the decision raises the same old question: if third base was even a possibility, why wasn’t he getting more work there before returning to Louisville?
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