Here's the Reds prospects who are mashing: Hinds, Encarnacion-Strand and more

June 18th, 2023

HOUSTON -- has tapped into his power, and the Double-A Chattanooga right fielder has become one of the Minor Leagues' hottest hitters.

Hinds, who hit a two-run home run in Chattanooga's 14-0 victory over Rocket City on Saturday, has slugged seven homers over his last six games. Entering Sunday, the 22-year-old is batting .571 with a whopping 2.201 OPS and 13 RBIs in those six games.

Ranked as the Reds' No. 16 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Hinds is batting .244/.291/.502 with 12 homers and 42 RBIs in 57 games after a slow start to his season.

Here is a roundup from the Reds' player development system:

Triple-A Louisville
Corner infielder , Cincinnati's No. 6 prospect, has continued his torrid offensive pace. Encarnacion-Strand was 3-for-4 with a double in Saturday's 12-1 rout of St. Paul.

In 14 games in June, Encarnacion-Strand entered Sunday batting .357 with three homers. He had exactly the same number of walks, 12, as strikeouts. 

Overall as he pushes for a promotion, the 23-year-old is batting .354 with an 1.119 OPS, 17 homers and 47 RBIs in 47 games. In a sign of the organization trying to expand his versatility, Louisville had Encarnacion-Strand start in right field on Thursday and left field on Friday, his first games at both positions in his Minor League career.

Double-A Chattanooga
During a 4-3 win over Rocket City on Tuesday, right-handed starting pitcher Connor Phillips struck out 12 batters over six innings. He allowed two earned runs and seven hits with no walks. 

Before that start, Phillips was named the Southern League's Pitcher of the Week. During his June 7 start vs. Birmingham, the 22-year-old struck out 10 batters with one hit allowed over seven scoreless innings.

Phillips, who is the organization's No. 10 prospect, has a 3.57 ERA through 12 starts with 23 walks and 101 strikeouts over 58 innings.

High-A Dayton
Shortstop Edwin Arroyo, who is Cincinnati's No. 3 ranked prospect and No. 32 overall by MLB Pipeline, has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games while batting .422 with three homers.

Arroyo, 19, has raised his average to .255 in 52 games. 

Single-A Dayton
Hector Rodriguez, the No. 25 ranked prospect in the organization, slugged his 11th homer of the season during Friday's 7-2 win over Jupiter. Rodriguez, a 19-year-old centerfielder from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is batting .303/.356/.558 with 33 RBIs in 52 games entering Sunday.