The Cincinnati Reds welcome Kennys Vargas back to the organization. The power hitting first baseman/designated hitter agreed to a deal with the Reds, first reported by Beisbol Puro, and the minor league deal also includes an invitation to big league spring training. That brings the total number of players in big league camp to 64.
If you don’t remember the days of Kennys Vargas being a Cincinnati Reds player you probably aren’t alone. On March 22nd of 2018 the Reds claimed him off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins. Two days later he was put back on waivers by Cincinnati and the Twins claimed him back. No, I don’t understand that one either.
It was the season prior to that, 2017, when Vargas last played in the big leagues. From 2014-2017 he saw action with the Twins. He played in 236 games and hit 38 doubles, a triple, and 35 home runs while posting a .252/.311/437 line (102 OPS+).
After spending the 2018 season in Triple-A with the Twins, Kennys Vargas headed to Japan for the 2019 season. He didn’t play in 2020, but headed to the Mexican League for both 2021 and 2022.
Last year he hit .324/.462/.566 in 353 plate appearances with the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. The then 31-year-old hit 17 home runs, had 17 doubles, walked 68 times, and he struck out 98 times. After the season he played in both the Venezuelan and Mexican Winter Leagues. While in Venezuela he hit .274/.397/.519 with 17 walks and 26 strikeouts over a span of 30 games. With Monterrey in the Mexican Winter League he hit .290/.430/.478 with 16 walks and 19 strikeouts in 20 games.
You can see the career stats for Kennys Vargas here.
Here are the non-roster players that will be in big league camp:
Pitchers
- Andrew Abbott
- Silvino Bracho
- Alan Busenitz
- Daniel Duarte
- Tayron Guerrero
- Kevin Herget
- Derek Law
- Ben Lively
- Connor Phillips
- Jared Solomon
- Alex Young
Catchers
- Jhonny Pereda
- Chuckie Robinson
- Austin Romine
Infielders
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand
- Richie Martin
- Alex McGarry
- Matt McLain
- Chad Pinder
- Matt Reynolds
- Jason Vosler
Outfielders
