Shortstop Leo Balcazar got off to a hot start at Low-A Daytona in 2023.
In the second game of a doubleheader that year on April 30, he scored the winning run as part of a dramatic ninth-inning walk-off. But just after stepping on the plate, Balcazar tore the ACL in his right knee.
He missed the remainder of 2023 before returning to the field in 2024 and moving up to High-A Dayton. Balcazar struggled to hit for much of the season, but when August rolled around, things started to come together for him.
He carried that into 2025, when he returned to the Midwest League and looked like a different player.
“I felt a little heavy in the first half,” Balcazar said of 2024. “So we made an adjustment with that, working hard in the gym and we saw the results.”
The 21-year-old from Venezuela spent the first half of 2025 in Dayton before earning a promotion to Double-A Chattanooga in the second half. While he hit for less power in Double-A, he also saw his walk and contact rates rise.
Between his two stops in 2025, Balcazar hit .263/.339/.381. He set career highs with 20 doubles and 12 home runs, while his 13% strikeout rate was the lowest of his career.
It wasnâ€t just the offense that came back around. Balcazarâ€s quickness and agility improved as well as he got further away from his knee injury. He saw action at both shortstop and second base and then added third base in the Arizona Fall League.
“The further heâ€s gotten out from the injury, his confidence, his overall athleticism, the way heâ€s moving around the infield up the middle—heâ€s getting back to the pre-injury Balcazar that we knew,†Reds senior director of player development Jeremy Farrell said.
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