Two Cincinnati Reds prospects picked up monthly hardware for their work in June, with Carter Graham and Kyle McCoy both earning Player of the Month recognition.
Graham took home the Midwest League honor in High-A after a massive month with the Dayton Dragons. The Reds’ eighth-round pick in 2023 put together a June line of .356/.491/.839, blasting 12 home runs and driving in 28 runs while also stealing three bases.
He struck out 21 times and drew 18 walks. In May and June combined, Graham hit more home runs than he had in his entire career before that stretch.
The offensive gains have been backed up by real changes in the numbers underneath. Graham is walking nearly twice as often as he did in previous seasons, with his walk rate up to 15 percent, and he’s cutting down on strikeouts too.
He’s at 18 percent this year after striking out 22 percent in 2025, 26 percent in 2024 and 30 percent in 2023. The power has always been part of the profile, but now he’s doing a better job of choosing his spots and punishing the pitches he wants.
He was promoted to Double-A on June 30.
Graham’s college résumé was loaded as well. He was a two-time Pac-12 team champion in 2022 and 2023, a two-time First Team Pac-12 selection in those same seasons, made the 2023 Pac-12 All-Defense Team and the Pac-12 All-Tournament team, and was also a D1 Baseball National Player of the Week. As a junior, he had 26 multi-hit games and 16 multi-RBI games.
McCoy, meanwhile, won the monthly award on the pitching side after a strong June of his own. The Reds took him in the eighth round of the 2025 draft, and as is often the case with pitchers, he did not appear in games after signing. He opened the year with Single-A Daytona, pitched well enough there to move up quickly, and was promoted to High-A on May 22.
Once he got there, McCoy kept rolling. In June, he worked five games and posted a 1.88 ERA, striking out 28 batters against nine walks while holding opponents to a .198 average. He also went 2-0 for the month.
The left-hander has struck out 25 percent of the batters he’s faced and produced a 52 percent groundball rate. He’s also been effective at keeping innings from unraveling, stranding 77 percent of the runners he’s allowed on base.
Before Maryland, he was ranked the 17th-best left-handed pitcher in high school. He made 12 starts as a freshman with the Terrapins and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, missed the 2024 season because of injury, then returned in 2025 and turned in a strong redshirt sophomore year.
That season brought All-Big Ten Third Team honors, an Opening Day start, 21 walks and 110 strikeouts across his college career in 137 1/3 innings.
McCoy is expected to remain in High-A for now, but his performance has put him in position to reach Double-A later this season.
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