The Cincinnati Reds acquired the Philadelphia Phillies secondary league shortstop Kyle Holder according Jeff Passan of ESPN. Holder was chosen by rule 5 last December, coming to Philadelphia from the New York Yankees. The rules still apply to Cincinnati – Holder must be part of the active spring training squad or be offered back to the Yankees.
The Yankees’ first choice in the 2015 draft of the University of San Diego, Holder struggled to get it right early in his professional career. He posted 0.527 OPS on a rookie ball with Staten Island in 56 games in 2015. In the following two years, his OPS was just 0.699 and 0.666 on Low-A and Advanced-A. In 2018, he lost much of the year, playing in just 48 games while posting an OPS of 0.677 on A-ball and Double-A. In 2019, at the age of 25, he finally started showing something with the cue by hitting 0.265 / 0.336 / 0.405 for Double-A Trenton. This was without a doubt the best offensive season he had as a professional.
Kyle Holder turns 27 in May and has never played above Double-A. He is not known for hitting too much, nor is he expected to hit much. Where he stands out, however, is with his glove. He is a positive defender with a positive arm in the second most valuable defensive position in the defender. During the year 2020 he was with the Yankees on his alternate website, but never had a chance to reach the Major Leagues.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network says that this change does not mean that Cincinnati is not yet trying to acquire an initial shortstop, writing down that the Reds still hope to get Amed Rosario from Cleveland in an exchange. Rosario is one of two shortstops that was acquired by Cleveland when negotiating Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco with the New York Mets, leaving them with options to work in the trade market.
ZiPS has a projection for Kyle Holder in the 2021 season for a .232 / .283 / .340 and -0.4 WAR line. In addition to the defense, but a stick that is well below average. The -0.4 WAR, however, comes with 458 plate appearances, which is difficult to see if it is putting this type of offensive line.