The Reds signed infielder Edwin Ríos to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Louisville, where he is starting tonight. Ríos chose free agency on Monday after being designated for assignment.
He will once again be a non-roster left-handed bat for the team. Ríos signed a minor league deal last winter and has mostly played for Louisville this year. He has a batting line of .243/.340/.486 with 11 home runs and a strong 11.8% walk rate over 50 games for the Bats, but he has struck out nearly 29% of the time. The Reds called him up briefly when Jake Fraley was unavailable, and Ríos appeared in five games, going 1 for 9 with a walk.
Throughout his career, Ríos has been a .202/.290/.455 hitter over parts of six MLB seasons and is primarily limited to playing corner infield positions. He possesses significant power with 21 home runs in 335 MLB plate appearances, but also carries a high strikeout rate. At 30 years old, he has struck out in more than a third of his plate appearances at the major league level.
