The Reds have signed outfielder Conner Capel to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league Spring Training, per a club announcement.
Capel, 26, was a fifth-round pick by Cleveland in the 2016 draft before being swapped to the Cardinals in 2018 as part of the return in the Oscar Mercado trade. Capel spent the next several seasons in the minor leagues before making his big league debut with the Cardinals in 2022. In nine games with the big league club in St. Louis, Capel struggled to a slash line of just .176/.211/.353 before the club designated him for assignment in late September. Once the Cardinals placed Capel on waivers, the A’s swooped in and claimed him before adding him to the big league roster for the stretch run. Capel caught fire with Oakland during his 13-game stint with the club to end the year, slashing an incredible .371/.425/.600 in his final 40 plate appearances.
That strong performance to end the 2022 season earned Capel a spot on the Opening Day roster in Oakland. Though Capel received regular starts in the outfield corners for the first month of the season, Capel failed to make the most of the opportunity and slashed just .258/.347/.318 across 75 trips to the plate before he was optioned to Triple-A. Capel ultimately finished the 2023 season with a .260/.372/.329 slash line in the big leagues, good for a respectable wRC+ of 109. That success came over the course of just 86 plate appearances, however, and Capel’s mediocre .252/.346/.402 slash line at the club’s Triple-A affiliate, which plays in the offense-inflating Pacific Coast League, wasn’t enough to convince the A’s to keep Capel on the roster. The outfielder was outrighted off the 40-man roster back in August and subsequently hit minor league free agency, allowing him to sign on with the Reds on this non-roster pact.
Capel doesn’t exactly have a clear path to joining Cincinnati’s roster, as the lefty outfielder would be competing with the likes of TJ Friedl, Will Benson, and Jake Fraley for a spot on the club’s roster to say nothing of right-handed outfield options like Stuart Fairchild and Spencer Steer. While the Reds’ deep positional group seems likely to block Capel at least entering Spring Training, an injury or two at the big league level combined with a strong performance from Capel during Spring Training and in the minors could provide him the opportunity to break onto the club’s roster. Until then, Capel figures to serve as a depth option at the Triple-A level for the Reds, who have the likes of Nick Martini and Bubba Thompson also available at Triple-A.
Not like they don’t need anyone on the major league level or anything.
Po Boy = dumpster diving
So if you were GM would you refuse to sign depth options until you finalized all your active roster contracts? Seems like a bizarre strategy tbh
260 BA would have had him hitting clean up for the Reds lol.
Hardly.
Go back to sleep, Strand hits 40 bombs and introduces himself to MLB..
I have a few predictions, as the team is currently constructed.
CES will hit 30 bombs, not quite 40.
Steer, McLain and Friedl will have solid seasons.
EDLC will be back in Louisville a while to figure it out. (I think thats why Candelario was signed, they wonder) Hopefully he does, and responds like Benson rather than Aquino.
Greene, Lodolo and Fraley will be on the DL at some point.
Connor Phillips will be their best pitcher. Ashcraft not far behind.
Diaz will be Diaz.
Starting rotation will still have issues. They will still have to out score opponents to win.
Bullpen burned out by July again.
Dumpster diving throughout the season continues when there are injuries.
The trade deadline will pass without any major acquisitions. Maybe one minor one.
Because of last three, they will fade down the stretch and miss the playoffs once more.
Po Boy will make David Bell the fall guy either at end of 2024 or during 2025.
Buffalo Bob will be happy because two million showed up again as they believed the line of bull they were spreading once more.
Everything you’ve listed there is entirely possible.
Anything is possible, but Doesn’t Belong is beating the same old drum. I’ll predict right now that the Reds make the playoffs.
Don’t know if he is upset that what I told them last offseason and season came to pass or that I am calling out an inept front office once more for potentially wasting another year of these kids window.
That being said, hope he’s right about playoffs, but my first instinct is still to quote Jim Mora.
With that in mind, here are a few of my New Year hopes:
Greene and Lodolo figure out how to be pitch efficient and stay healthy.
EDLC figures it out too and gets back to hitting like in the minors.
India stays healthy and regains his ROY form.
CES hits 40 plus homers and draws comparision to George Foster.
Candelario has a similar year to last year rather than regressing to the back of his baseball card.
Benson keeps on rolling.
Hinds comes up and is the right handed hitting RF they have looked for.
Votto comes back, but not necessarily as a player.
If most of those happen, there will be playoffs.
Louisville depth.
There are more important needs.
It’s not like they aren’t working on bigger things. Might as well snatch this one up while he’s available.
Theyll still be working on it in the summer.
and?
I saw Capel in the A’s series against the Mets in 22. He was very impressive in his hustle and grit. I’ve been hoping the Mets would pick him up.
Nice to see the Reds are going for it finally!! All in wwoooOOooo!!!!
He’s kind of hitting above his expected BA for both the Majors and Minors.
Majors: 0.265
Minors 0.211
AVG =HR% / (1 – BB% – HBP% – SF% – SH%) + BABIP * (1 – BB% – HBP% – SH% – K% – HR%) / (1 – BB% – HBP% – SH% – SF%)
He’s a solid depth piece. No power, but he does give you a solid professional at bat.
Can DJ teach him to throw the knuckleball?
This will move the needle. Another left handed hitter with zero power.
Has to be for depth in Louisville. There is no reason to sign marginal position players at this point. Especially players with no power to take advantage of GABP. Pitching and more pitching is the need.