Alfredo Duno is finding his power stroke in the month of May.
The recent power surge by MLB's No. 26 prospect continued as he homered in his third consecutive game during High-A Dayton’s 16-6 loss to Lake County at Day Air Ballpark.
Duno homered in the bottom of the first inning for the second straight night. After being frozen by a 2-1 fastball from Rafe Schlesinger (Guardians), the Reds' No. 1 prospect wasn't going to be fooled twice. Duno stayed on the left-hander's 95 mph fastball and drove it just over the right-field wall. Of the three home runs the 20-year-old catcher has hit in the past three days, two of them have gone to the opposite field.
COMPLETE REDS PROSPECT COVERAGE
After a slow month of April in which Duno hit just .213 in 75 at-bats, he has come to life in the month of May. Over the past nine games, the Venezuela native has gone 14-for-34 (.412) with six extra-base hits and a 1.289 OPS, helping raise his OPS from .709 to .889 on the year.
MLB's No. 2 catching prospect has been showing off strong plate discipline and swing decision skills as well. Since the calendar flipped to May, Duno has more walks (eight) than strikeouts (four). He sports a 19.1% BB rate this season, and 17.6% BB for his career.
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Regarded as one of the top prospects in the 2023 international free agent class, and the second highest-ranked catcher behind only Ethan Salas (SD No. 1/MLB No. 52), Duno received a $3.1 million signing bonus to join the Reds organization that January.
The past few years, there have been several names who started turning heads at the High-A level in the Reds' system -- current big leaguers like Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart. At his current pace, Duno might have Cincinnati fans thinking about that trio sharing the field together in the not-so-distant future.