Before today’s game, the Reds placed the infielder. Matt Davidson on COVID-19’s injured list ten days after Davidson tested positive for the virus. Aristides Aquino and right-handed Tejay Antone They were called from the Cincinnati minor league training site to fill the spots on the list left by Davidson and the catcher. Tucker Barnhart, who entered the paternity list.
Davidson was in the starting lineup for Friday’s 7-1 win in Cincinnati over Detroit, so in the wake of this positive test, there must surely be some concern within the Reds clubhouse about whether others might have been infected. As Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer pointed out, the Reds have had no cases of coronavirus since before the opening of Summer Camp, when two players tested positive during the initial round of admissions tests.
Davidson signed a minor contract with the Reds during the offseason, and Friday’s game marked his first hunk of MLB action since the 2018 season. While Davidson hit 46 home runs over 939 PA for the White Sox in 2017- 18, he was not an overall productive offensive player, with a .224 / .291 / .435 cut line. Davidson has also dabbled in pitching, though the Reds seem to focus on him alone as a position player.
Aquino was the subject of baseball last summer after he hit 15 home runs and recorded 1,129 OPS in his first 124 plate appearances, though he quickly cooled off after that incredible start. Now he’ll have another chance to play, and he could be helped by the existence of a DH venue instead of having to fight for space on a field full of Reds crowd.
Antone was a fifth-round pick for the Reds in the 2014 draft, and will head to the big leagues after posting a 3.74 ERA, 2.80 K / BB rate and 6.8 K / 9 in 611 1/3 innings of minor league. . Antone, a land specialist, is 20th on the MLB Pipeline’s list of top prospects in the Cincinnati farming system.
