The Cincinnati Reds will have reigning World Series champion Gavin Lux join their ranks ahead of next season.
Reds trade prospect & pick to Dodgers for Gavin Lux
According to MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon, the Reds relinquished a future draft asset and prospect to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for the quality infielder. Full details of the trade are as follows:
“In a trade that partly addressed their need to add offense, the Reds acquired second baseman/outfielder Gavin Lux from the Dodgers on Monday,” Sheldon wrote. “Cincinnati is sending Los Angeles its Competitive Balance Round A pick (No. 37 overall) and outfield prospect Mike Sirota (No. 14 on Reds’ Top 30).”
Reds to bring in promising talent in Lux to their fold
Lux had a career season with the Dodgers in 2024. A year after coming off of a torn ACL that robbed him of his 2023 outing, the 27-year-old hit 10 home runs, scored 59 runs, drove in 50 RBIs, and dialed in 24 doubles on the previous campaign. Save runs, those were all personal best for him. Lux also slashed .251/.320/.383 at the plate with a .703 OPS.
In the playoffs, Lux provided L.A. with quality trips at the plate, where he sported a .278 batting average in their National League Division Series triumph over the San Diego Padres. The Wisconsin native will give Cincinnati a slugger who performs sensationally against fastball pitches.
He faced fastballs in 234 of his 439 at-bats last season and boasted a scintillating .312 batting average in such situations along with a .483 slugging percentage. To prove that was no fluke, he also hit .304 with a .433 slugging percentage against fastballs in 2022.
Reds to look at Lux for INF and OF roles
Also per Sheldon, Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed where the team expects to line Lux up on defense in his debut outing with the ball club:
“If you looked at our team last year, people argued that we had too many infielders to begin the year,” Krall said. “Obviously, that didn’t play itself out. We were last in WAR at third base, first base and DH. We look at [Lux] as a guy that’s going to play second base, play some outfield and DH some in Spring Training. We’ll also give him a look at third and short and see where it is, see where he is defensively with all those positions. We think that he’s a quality left-handed hitter that just lengthens our lineup out.”
- Padres projected to land former Yankees star 1B to close out career
- Reds execute impact trade for reigning champion infielder
- Athletics extend star player on team-friendly deal
Lux will bring his career .976 fielding percentage at second base and unblemished cumulative fielding percentage in the outfield to the Reds’ front next time out. He likely won’t see time at shortstop over reigning All-Star Elly De La Cruz, but could inherit any of the other aforementioned roles Krall laid out.
Cincinnati will have him on board for two more years, which will give them enough time to see if he will take the next step in his career. Meanwhile, the Dodgers inherited pieces for their future, as their championship roster — abundant in talent up and down their depth chart — prepares an attempt to go back-to-back as champions next time out.
