Cincinnati Reds Prospect's Historic Run Headlines Pair of Weekly Award Winners

Two Cincinnati Reds prospects have earned Player of the Week honors for their play last week: Hector Rodriguez in the International League and Lisnerkin Lantigua in the Florida State League.

Rodriguez's Spectacular Weekend

Following a weekend for the ages, Cincinnati Reds prospect Hector Rodriguez won the International League's Player of the Month Award. Rodriguez had an incredible week for the Louisville Bats. He slashed .370/.414/.963 with four home runs, two doubles, a triple, and 14 RBI. Rodriguez capped off his week by hitting for the cycle on Friday, going 4-6 with seven RBI. On Saturday, he followed that performance by going 4-6 again with two home runs and five RBI. He made history this season as well. There have been only five times in that a player has hit three home runs in a game and hit for the cycle in a two-week period. Those players are Ted Williams (1946), Joe DiMaggio (1948), Jim King (1964), Adrian Beltre (2012), and Jose Altuve (2023). That is some elite company.

Rodriguez is the Cincinnati Reds' fifth-ranked prospect and was acquired alongside Double-A pitcher Jose Acuna from the New York Mets in exchange for Tyler Naquin. The 22-year-old was added to the 40-man roster over the offseason to protect him from the Rule-5 Draft.

“He can hit,” Terry Francona told Charlie Goldsmith during Spring Training. “He can flat out hit. And he’s getting better in the outfield. It’ll be fun to watch where he is. He’ll be a fun guy in spring training.”

He has made major strides at the plate this season. He is walking at a 10 percent rate and is striking out fewer than 20 percent of the time. The most important stat for Rodriguez is his swing percentage and chase rate. He's chasing far fewer than he has to this point in his career. He has dropped his chase percentage down 12 percent and is swinging less overall while performing at a high level. The Reds have a plethora of outfield depth ahead of him, but I don't know how much longer you can keep this kind of production down in Triple-A.

Lisnerkin Lantigua Wins Florida State League Pitcher of the Week

Take a look at the newly upgraded facilities of the Daytona Tortugas' on March 26, 2026. | Nadia Zomorodian/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lantigua was excellent in his two outings last week. On Tuesday, he pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Mason Morris and allowed just one hit, an unearned run, no walks, with five strikeouts. He followed that up by earning a three-run save on Saturday by pitching 2 1/3 innings with no hits, no runs, no walks, and two strikeouts.

Lantigua was signed during the international signing period in 2022, which was highlighted by Ricky Caberea and Esmith Pineda. At 17 years old, he was throwing 93 miles per hour and had an already above-average curveball. He has always been known to throw strikes. He has yet to walk more than 20 batters in a season, walking 72 in his five-year career to this point, and has 128 strikeouts.

In 30 1/3 innings this season, the 21-year-old is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a .241 batting average against him. Lantigua had a great week and will be a pitcher to keep an eye on in the Reds' organization.

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