Hard-Throwing Reds Pitching Prospects Offer Lesson In Patience
Image credit: RHP Luis Mey (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
I remember first hearing about Luis Mey when he was part of the Reds’ 2020 instructional league team. At the time, that was the closest thing to real games that most minor leaguers got that year.
He threw hard and had projection, and that was about all you could say positively about what he could do on the mound. His secondary pitches? Aspirational. His control? Frightening. Dominating? More often he was dominated.
Looking at Mey’s early stats—an 8.39 ERA in 2019, a 5.65 ERA in 2022 and a 5.40 ERA in 2023 to go along with WHIPs in the 1.8s—you’d wonder why Baseball America ranked him in the Reds’ Top 30 at all, let alone 26th in 2021.
But fast forward to Mey’s outing in the Reds’ 2025 Spring Breakout game, and you’d be fair to wonder why Mey, who ranks 16th this year, isn’t higher on the list.
Mey sat at 100 mph and touched 102. His secondary pitches? A nasty slider plays off his fastball. His control? Solid. Dominating? Absolutely.
Mey threw eight strikes in 10 pitches. He struck out two of the three batters he faced. He lived at the bottom of the zone. His final pitch was 102 mph down and in for a swinging strike three. But the pitch two before that will stick as the memory of the night. That was a 101 mph sinker that turned Juan Baez’s bat into toothpicks. Pitchers break bats, but they rarely shatter them like this. Baez was left with the handle in his hands and a splintered bat lying on the infield grass.
Mey’s sinker is diabolical. Hitters love to lift and elevate. Mey is the antidote by dominating at the bottom of the zone. He faced 244 batters last year. He gave up no home runs, no triples and just six doubles.
Batters can walk against Mey. They may beat a single into the ground. But very few ever drive the ball against him. His Synergy Sports spray chart from last year is remarkable for its lack of long fly balls.
And that’s the challenge of the new and improved Mey. The idea of getting a couple of walks and a single against a reliever throwing 100-102 mph turbo-sinkers seems like a very tough ask.
Mey’s appearance was a perfect reminder of the need for patience in an impatient baseball world. Five years ago, Mey didn’t seem like a sure bet to get out of rookie ball. He spent three straight seasons at Low-A. But given enough time to develop, he’s turned into a pitcher who looks ready to take on a big role in the Reds’ bullpen at some point later in 2025.
And that leads to what was happening on the Reds backfields the day before the Spring Breakout game. If Mey’s secondary offerings were unrefined in 2020-2021, Ovis Portes‘ slider is two steps behind that. Sometimes it misfires coming out of his hand, forgetting to spin at all. Sometimes it becomes so big and loopy that it’s the easiest bit of pitch recognition a hitter will have all month. When it looks like a pro breaking ball, it’s infrequent enough that it’s hard not to wonder if the good one was an accident.
Portes, 20, is risk and potential personified. His control is shaky at times. But playing against an impressive Dodgers’ Class A lineup on the backfields, it was also easy to see the moments that explain why the Reds asked for him in last year’s trade that sent Lucas Sims to the Red Sox.
In the second of his two innings of work, Portes worked on his breaking ball to little success. He nibbled and struggled to throw strikes. A couple of walks and a groundball hit put him in trouble, with the bases loaded and a big inning just around the corner.
So Portes stopped messing around and went back to the one thing he has right now: a nightmarish four-seam fastball that can touch 97 mph with elite carry (20 inches of induced vertical break).
In three pitches, Portes had a strikeout. A few more elevated fastballs later he was out of the jam.
And with that, he was done for the day. It’s early in spring training. There are five months of the season ahead of him. There are likely five years left in his development to get to the majors (if he does). Portes has a long list of improvements he’ll have to make if he’s going to ever reach his potential.
But there’s all kinds of reasons to be patient. Just ask Luis Mey.
