MLB Pipeline has named five Arizona Fall League participants who could earn a spot on the 40-man roster. The Arizona Fall League is an opportunity for players who missed significant time due to injury to get more reps. It also provides a chance for their organizations to look at their prospects and decide whether or not to add them to their 40-man roster. One Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer made the list.
A Huge Season for This Prospect
MLB Pipeline named shortstop Carlos Sanchez as one of the prospects in the Arizona Fall League to be named to the Reds' 40-man roster this offseason. Sanchez has a chance to turn some heads this fall while playing for the Peoria Javelinas. Sanchez is the #14 prospect on the Reds' Top-30 list after he wasn't even on the list at the start of the 2026 season. He has had quite a rise in the rankings this season and is looking to build on that even more this fall.
The 21-year-old Sanchez hit .270 across two levels (High-A and Double-A) during the 2026 season. He earned a promotion to Chattanooga in June after posting a .912 OPS with the Dayton Dragons. His OPS dipped to .693 in 58 Double-A games. In 127 games, Sanchez hit 16 home runs, 51 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. He was second in all of the Reds' minors in hits (133) and first in runs scored (111). In fact, Sanchez 111 runs were the third-best in all of Minor League Baseball in 2026.
The Scouting Report
Jonathan May of MLB Pipeline had this to say about Sanchez:
"Left-handed hitter, really good feel for contact," Mayo wrote. "He had made some swing changes to really help him out. And he's gotten more physical, so he's impacting the ball more. ... So I think the combination of the positional flexibility and the growing impact at the bat probably means he's added value, and he could be an intriguing Rule 5 guy because you can move him around the diamond."
With this scouting report, and with the fact that Sanchez is Rule 5 draft-eligible, the Reds might add him to the 40-man roster to protect him this offseason. While this would be a great thing for Sanchez to be able to stay in Cincinnati, if he is on the 40-man roster and the owners lock out the players after the CBA expires, he would not be able to play minor league baseball in 2027.
Either way, Sanchez will have time to continue his impressive 2026 season in the Arizona Fall League.
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