GLENDALE, Ariz. – The first time that Leo Balcazar played in a big league Spring Training game, he was still just 17 years old. Set to make his stateside debut in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League later that summer, the Venezuelan shortstop was drawn to another player also getting Cactus League reps for the first time in 2022.
“I really loved it,” said Balcazar of the experience. “To see how he’s playing right now in the big leagues, one of the best players in the world, I want to be like him. I want to play with him [in the Majors].”
Having steadily matriculated through the Reds’ system since then, the latest stop on Balcazar’s path to playing alongside the All-Star has been the Arizona Fall League. He became the first player in the AFL to reach the 20-hit plateau during the 2025 campaign with a four-hit night for Peoria in its 11-2 win over Glendale at Camelback Ranch on Saturday night.
An infield single in the second. A pullside double in the fourth. A line-drive RBI base hit in the fifth. An RBI knock in the sixth. To boot, he notched the achievement by facing four different pitchers.
With 20 hits in 13 games, Balcazar has four more than the next closest hitter. He’s slashing .385/.439/.462 with nine RBIs and three stolen bases, collecting at least one knock in 12 of his outings.
Fall League rosters are always stacked but usually especially so at shortstop. That’s meant that Balcazar, who has made 224 starts at short in the Minors (more than three times the amount of any other position), has had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The first day the Reds’ No. 23 prospect arrived in Arizona, he was told he’d get plenty of reps at the hot corner, a spot he last played in 2023 with Single-A Daytona for a total of 35 innings. He’s seen time there and at his usual home of short and second base through the first three weeks.
“Honestly, I just wanna do my job,” said Balcazar. “Just trying to catch everything and play [well].”
The Reds have long believed in Balcazar’s potential. It’s why he received a six-figure signing bonus to join the organization when he signed in January 2021 and has been a member of the club’s Top 30 Prospects list since ‘23. He began this year repeating High-A before earning a bump to Double-A Chattanooga in mid-July. All told, he hit .263 with a .720 OPS across both levels but collected 129 hits in 126 games.
While Balcazar has steadily climbed the Reds’ Minor League ladder, it’s worth keeping in perspective that he’s still just 21 years old. He won’t turn 22 until midway through next season, all but assuring he’ll again be one of the youngest hitters in the Double-A Southern League (where he was more than two-and-a-half years younger than the average player in 2025).
He spent this past season facing a pitcher older than him in 95.9 percent of his plate appearances, experience that has steeled him heading into the Fall League where velocity and above-average offspeed offerings are the norm.
That makes it nice to have a teammate who’s going through a similar circumstance and not one you just met a month ago. Balcazar has teamed up with Cam Collier (CIN No. 6/MLB No. 94) not only during their time in Peoria, but for going on four-plus years since they formed a tandem during the Arizona Complex League.
“Cam is my guy,” laughed Balcazar. “We’re always having fun during the game and I just really love how he plays. He’s a really good guy and a really good teammate.”
No Reds player has ever collected the most hits in a single Fall League campaign, dating back to the league’s inaugural year in 1993. It’s a six-week sample size but also an indication of the work that Balcazar has put in to get to this stage, especially after appearing in a full slate of regular season games. And it’s put him one step closer to his dream:
Reaching the big leagues and playing alongside his buddy Elly.
