The Reds have the day off while they move from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest, but there’s still plenty to track around the organization. Cincinnati is trying to stack a third straight road series win after taking two of three in Colorado and two of three in Seattle, and Joey Votto is set to pop back up on television this weekend.
Votto, who signed with NBC during the offseason as an analyst, will be part of the Sunday Night Baseball crew for the New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. He’ll be in Philadelphia, handle some pregame work with Bob Costas, and then serve as a “go-to” voice during the game in a role that sounds a lot like the kind of recurring in-game presence Jim Day has filled at times.
This won’t be Votto’s first time in a booth. In 2022, while he was on the injured list, he joined John Sadak and Barry Larkin on the TV side a few times. Back then, he told Mark Sheldon of Reds.com that he had been asked during his career to join broadcasts and maybe do the playoffs, but he had passed on those chances or simply wasn’t available.
After retiring in 2024, Votto didn’t head straight into baseball media. Then in January, he joined NBC along with several other recently retired players.
The announcement drew plenty of attention, but so far the rollout has barely happened. Clayton Kershaw has appeared in one game.
Votto has appeared in none. More than 100 games into the season, NBC’s group of offseason additions has barely been used, despite the network having plenty of games on its schedule.
On the farm, Keith Law of The Athletic updated his Top 70 Prospects list this morning, and only one Reds player made the cut. Catcher Alfredo Duno checked in at No. 28 overall, a big jump from No. 80 before the season started.
Duno entered the year as the Reds’ top prospect on my list and still holds that spot. He has split time this season between High-A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga, playing in 78 games and hitting .263/.389/.516 with 16 doubles, 19 home runs, 57 walks, and 89 steals. His 19 homers are a career high, topping the 18 he hit last year with Single-A Daytona, when he won the Florida State League Most Valuable Player award.
The Reds’ rookie-level complex league team in Arizona also punched its ticket to the playoffs with a win in its regular season finale. Its exact seed is still undecided, since that depends on whether the Angels team wins or loses its final game this afternoon.
The rest of the system is still grinding through the summer. The two Dominican Summer League clubs didn’t start until June and have about four weeks left. Daytona and Dayton will play into the first week of September, Chattanooga goes into the second week of September, and Louisville finishes on September 20.
For those keeping score on the full system, only one Reds affiliate in the United States has a losing record. Daytona sits at 36-54 after a rough first half, but the Tortugas have gone 15-9 in the second half and are leading their division. Dayton won its first-half division title and is 50-40 overall.
In the Dominican Summer League, the Reds’ two clubs are both in the 51-team circuit. The DSL Reds are 21-14 and in second place in their division, while the DSL Rojos are 17-19 and sit fourth.
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