Hector Rodriguez had been on fire for Escogido down in the Dominican Winter League in the second week of December, but after going 2-4 with two triples on the 13th he didn’t play for over a week. On Monday night he returned to the lineup and he picked up right where he left off.
The 21-year-old outfielder walked in his first trip to the plate. The next time he came up he singled into left field and drove in two runs to tie the game up at 3-3. Two innings later he was back at the plate and his team was up 5-3. Rodriguez crushed the ball to the wall for a double that came off of his bat at 109.5 MPH. In the bottom of the 6th inning he came to the plate for the final time in the game. It was 11-3 at that point in the game and there was a runner on first base. Rodriguez was down 0-2 but Jhan Marinez hung a cutter in the middle of the zone and he paid the price for it as the ball went 432 feet for a 2-run home run.
The home run capped a 3-3 night with a walk and two extra-base hits. Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to six games where he’s gone 12-24 with five extra-base hits, a walk, and no strikeouts. His line in the Dominican Winter League now sits at .301/.375/.504 and he’s walked as often as he’s struck out – 13 times – in his 128 plate appearances.
His 432-foot home run in this game was the longest of 2025, topping a 431-foot home runs he hit in August when he was playing in Louisville. It’s the second longest home run he’s hit that I’ve got data for in his career. Back in 2023 when Rodriguez was playing with Single-A Daytona he hit a 434-foot home run.
Cincinnati added Hector Rodriguez to the 40-man roster back in November. The outfielder doesn’t turn 22 until half way through spring training. As things stand now, the Reds are still searching for outfield options to go along with Noelvi Marte in right and TJ Friedl in center, though they can try to plug and play with guys like Gavin Lux, Will Benson, and Spencer Steer. With two of those guys being left-handed hitters it probably leaves little chance for Rodriguez to make the team out of spring training but he does represent the potential high contact with some pop kind of hitter the team both wants and needs.
Rodriguez likely could use a little more time in the minor leagues, though. He was very good in Double-A last season, but his production did drop off some in Triple-A where he was one of the youngest players in the league. His time in the Dominican Winter League is likely helping out his progression and the fact that he’s walked as often as he’s struck out feels like a good sign given that he’s generally had an incredibly aggressive approach at the plate throughout his career and has been the one area that most scouts and analysts point to as the part of his game that he had to improve on if he was going to find success against big league pitchers in the long run.
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