Michael Chavis may not have had the typical career of a first-round pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, but he’s still fighting to keep his big-league dreams afloat.
Selected with the 26th overall pick of the 2014 draft by the Boston Red Sox, Chavis has five partial seasons and 357 games of major league games under his belt. But he hasn’t been in the majors since 2023, and this past season, after he was released in July by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the utility infielder finished up the year with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan.
He’ll face long odds to avoid his third-straight start to the year in the minors, but Chavis at least has an affiliated ballclub to call home once again.
According to a Wednesday report from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, Chavis and the Cincinnati Reds were in agreement on a minor-league contract for the upcoming season. The 30-year-old Georgia native will compete for a spot on the major league roster in spring training, but will almost certainly be assigned to Triple-A Louisville to begin the year.
Chavis has played mostly first base in the majors, but he has significant experience at second as well, while also moonlighting at third and in the outfield. His best offensive season by far was his rookie year of 2019, when he hit 18 home runs and put up a .766 OPS in 95 games.
Since leaving the Red Sox via trade in 2021, Chavis has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals at the big-league level and the Seattle Mariners and Dodgers in the minors. He’s always hit well against Triple-A pitching, posting an .896 OPS in 93 games for the Oklahoma City Comets this year prior to his release.
The Reds are assuredly not banking on Chavis to play a major role in their season, but he’ll be there for depth at a minimum and if he wows early on, perhaps he’ll earn a big-league cameo.
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