The Cincinnati Reds signed outfielder Anthony Alford to a minor league contract. His contract does not include a non-roster invitation to major league spring training, but he is in “early minor league camp.” That said, he may have seen action with the Reds during games as a “minor league call,” especially in the early spring. And it’s also not unheard of for guys to get a non-roster call/call up after spring training starts if they do well in minor league camp.Alford played six seasons in Major League Baseball
. From 2017 to 2022, he played for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He collected 240 plate appearances during that span, appearing in 102 games and hitting .209/.275/.368. In 2021, he got his only regular season when he played 49 games with Pittsburgh, striking out 148 and posting a .717 OPS.Once the top prospect in the Blue Jays organization (a three-time Top 100 pick by Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and Baseball Prospectus), Alford struggled a bit to reach Triple-A before moving up the level in 2021 and 2022. , hits . 286/ .400/.577 in 270 plate appearances.It was that performance and lack of playing time in Pittsburgh that opened the door for him to move to Korea to play part of 2022 and all of 2023 in the KBO. In 213 KBO games, Alford hit .288/.359/.476 with 50 doubles, 4 triples and 29 home runs.Now he’s back in the states and he’s in spring training with the Reds farm system.
The 29-year-old winger has experience in all three grass positions. He’s been in center most of the time, but he also has considerable experience in left field. He only played 109 games as a right-back in his professional career – although in Korea he played more on the right than in midfield, although 160 of the 175 games came as a left-back..
