After signing in January of 2024, Jirvin Morillo went out and hit well in the Dominican Summer League. He had 17 extra-base hits and walked nearly twice as often as he struck out – averaging more than a walk per game played (40 walks in 39 games).

This article was first sent out to those who support the site over on Patreon. Early access is one of the perks that you could get be joining up as a Patron and supporting the work done here at RedsMinorLeagues.com

When the 2025 season began, the Cincinnati Reds had Morillo back in the Dominican Summer League. The season began well for the then 18-year-old catcher as he picked up two hits and a double in his first game. He would run off a 6-game hitting streak to start the season and he had four doubles and five walks during that stretch.

As hot as that start was he had just one hit over the following five games, though he did add in a walk in four of those five games. On June 21st he busted out of the slump and had two hits, two walks, and one of those hits was his first home run of the season. He kept on hitting for the next two weeks, running off hits in all eight of the games he played – including hitting two more home runs.

Things slowed down after that. He would go 9-50 over the next 14 games and three of those hits came in one game on July 10th. His final game of the season would come a little over two weeks after that as he joined several other players from the Dominican complex in flying to the US to take part in the Reds bridge league and instructional league. After that was complete he then flew to Australia where he played two months in their winter league.

For all 2025 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).

Position: Catcher | B/T: S/R

Height: 5′ 11″ | Weight: 177  lbs. | Acquired: International FA (2024) | Born: January 10, 2007

Despite repeating the level in the Dominican Summer League, Morillo was worse at the plate in just about every way. He walked less (but still a lot), he struck out quite a bit more often (13.5% to 18.0%), and he hit for less power. His performance was still above-average, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it was in his 2024 campaign.

The switch-hitter has not had a chance to see many left-handed pitchers in his career. Over the two years in the Dominican Summer League he’s only had 28 total plate appearances against them, but he’s also racked up a .450 average, going 9-20 with three doubles and three home runs against them. During his time in the winter in Australia he had 28 plate appearances against lefties and they struck him out 15 times and didn’t walk him once.

He hasn’t put up big power numbers yet, but he’s shown good power to this point in his career for his age. He has hit the ball hard for his age, though he isn’t showing elite exit velocities – just above-average ones. As he continues to get stronger that should help him start showing more in-game power and he’s got a chance to have average power down the line.

There’s some split on the hit tool for Morillo, with some grading it out below-average and others as above-average. What is much easier to say right now is that he’s struggled to hit for average against right-handed hitters in his career so far with just a .238 average and that he’s got almost no experience even facing lefties. He’s going to have to improve what he can hit from the left side and gain a lot of experience and show he can hit more advanced left-handed pitching as he moves forward.

Behind the plate Morillo is a work in progress. He’s made some progress, too, but there’s still plenty of work to do. As things go with most catchers, it’s going to be a longer development process because of all the things they need to do and to learn in their progression in order to be a big league caliber defender and game caller. He’s got a good arm and showed it off as he threw out 37% of attempted base stealers in 2025 in the DSL and then 29% in the Australian Winter League.

There’s some upside with Morillo. If he can get the most out of his raw tools he could be a good hitting catcher who shows an above-average ability in both power and average for the position and be a solid defender. There’s a lot of development to do between where he’s at today and that spot, though. Nothing truly stands out on his scouting report, but for a catcher he’s got solid or better raw tools across the board.

Stats

Spray Chart

To note that the above spray chart is his chart as a left-handed hitter only. He only had seven batted balls as a right-handed hitter in 2025’s regular season and those didn’t seem useful to chart out on their own, but also aren’t useful to be included in his spray chart.

Video

Interesting Stat on Jirvin Morillo

He had a 1.054 OPS in June with nine extra-base hits. He had a .576 OPS in July with three extra-base hits.