Alex Blandino

Born in nearby Palo Alto, CA and resides in Gilroy during the offseason...Starred at nearby St. Francis High School in Mountain View. Was the 2011 Baseball Player of the Year by Cal-Hi Sports, the San Jose Mercury News and Palo Alto Daily News...Taken in the 38th round of the 2011 draft by the A's but chose to attend Stanford...Played there for three years from 2012-2014 before being selected by Cincinnati in the first round (29th overall) of the 2014 draft...Batted .310 with 12 HR, 44 RBI and 14 doubles as a junior in 2014. Led team in RBI, runs and SLG...

2021

Made his first career Opening Day roster with Cincinnati and appeared in 43 games for the Reds...Missed a total of 61 games during two stints to the Injured List...he missed games April 17-18 while in Covid-19 protocols...Missed 59 games with a broken metacarpal in his right hand from June 5-Aug. 10...suffered the injury after getting hit by a pitch June 4 at St. Louis...Was optioned to Triple-A Louisville on Aug. 11...Made four appearances on the mound and became the only Reds position player since 1961 to appear in four games as a pitcher in a single season...Landed on Louisville's injured list Sept. 3 with a lumbar stress fracture and did not play the rest of the season.

2020

Spent the season at the Reds' alternate training site as part of their 60-player pool... On three regular season road trips traveled with the team as a member of the Taxi Squad but never was added to the 28-man roster (8/19-8/27 at KC/StL/Mil, 9/4-9/13 at Pit/Chc/StL, 9/25-9/27 at Min)... As part of the 40-man Postseason player pool, traveled with the team to Atlanta for the Wild Card Series vs the Braves...was not on the roster for either game of the 2-0 series sweep loss.

2019

Began the season on the Reds' injured list recovering from July 2018 surgery to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and to repair the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee...suffered the injury while turning a double play in the ninth inning of the 12-1 loss on 7/20/18 vs Pit...From 6/3-6/13 made 7 rehabilitation apps at Louisville, then on 6/14 was reinstated from the injured list and was optioned to Louisville...spent the rest of the minor league season with the Bats until he was promoted on 9/1 as 1 of 5 September callups...For the Reds made 9 starts (5gs at 2B, 2gs at 3B, 1gs at 1B, 1gs at DH)...Made his season debut the day he was promoted, in a 5-3 win on 9/1 at StL...in the nightcap of that day/ night doubleheader pinch ran in the top of the ninth and played 3B in the bottom half of the inning...From 9/5-9/7 produced a season-high 3-game hitting streak (4-6, .667, 1 2b, 3bb)...On 9/27 at Pit, in the Reds' 160th game of the season, made his first career start and fourth career appearance at 1B...For Louisville played 2B (35g, 34gs), SS (18g, 17gs) and 3B (15g, 14gs)...Wore uniform #2.

2018

On 7/23 had season-ending surgery on his right knee to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and to repair the medial collateral ligament (MCL)...suffered the injury while turning a double play in the ninth inning of the 12-1 loss on 7/20 vs Pit...when injured led Reds pinch hitters with 26 plate apps and 9 hits...was 1 of 9 Reds players to make Major League debuts in 2018 (RHP Tanner Rainey, RHP Zack Weiss, IF/OF Rosell Herrera, IF/OF Brandon Dixon, RHP Jesús Reyes, OF Aristides Aquino, IF Blake Trahan, OF Gabriel Guerrero)...made 26 starts (10gs at 3B, 10gs at 2B, 6gs at SS), his last in the 7-4 win on 7/10 at Cle (SS)...also made 1 appearance each at 1B (7/13 at StL, 9th inning of 9-1 win), LF (7/15 at StL, 8th & 9th innings of 5-3 loss), RF (5/11 at LAD, 7th inning of 6-2 win) and pitcher (7/11 at Cle, 8th inning of 19-4 loss)...his apps in the outfield were the first of his professional career...began the season at Louisville and made 3 starts at 3B before he was recalled on 4/9, when Eugenio Suárez was disabled with a broken right thumb suffered on a hit by pitch...spent the rest of the season on the Reds' roster and disabled list...on 4/10 at Phi made his Major League debut with a start at 3B (0-3)...on 4/13 vs StL pinch hit and singled off Matt Bowman for his first Major League hit...on 4/20 at StL had his first career 2-hit game and first RBI (RBI-single off Bud Norris)...on 5/1 vs Mil, entered the game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement at 2B, then in the bottom of the frame hit his first career home run (solo off Jacob Barnes)...on 5/11 at LAD played RF for the last out of the seventh inning, his first professional appearance in the outfield, then played SS in the eighth and ninth...os a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of the 5-3 win on 7/2 vs WSox, his 2-out, 2-run double off Chris Volstad snapped the 3-3 tie...was his first career multi-RBI game...in the eighth inning of the 19-4 loss on 7/11 at Cle made the only pitching appearance of his professional career (1ip, 1h, 0r, 0bb, 2k, 1wp)...struck out Brandon Guyer and Roberto Perez...entered that game at 3B in the bottom of the sixth inning, trailing 17-2...was 1 of 4 Reds position players to pitch in 2018 (Cliff Pennington, Phillip Ervin, Brandon Dixon twice)...on 7/21 went on the 10-day disabled list with the knee injury...5 days later, when OF Mason Williams was promoted, was transferred to the 60-day DL and spent the rest of the season there.

2017

In 125 apps for Class AA Pensacola and Class AAA Louisville hit .265 with 36 doubles, 12 HR and 51 RBI...established career highs in on-base percentage (.382), doubles, HR and walks (64)...was the organization's Minor League Player of the Month for June (24g, .338, 11 2b, 3hr, 20rbi, 1sb at Pensacola and Louisville)...began the season at Pensacola...on 6/22 was promoted to Louisville...while with the Bats reached base safely in 48 of his 57 starts and recorded a hit in 40 games...after he was promoted ranked T4th in the International League in on-base percentage (.390)...on 11/20 was added to the 40-man roster.

2014-2016

2016: In his first full season at Class AA spent the season with Pensacola...for the Blue Wahoos made 74 apps at 2B, 30 apps at 3B and 16 apps at SS...began the season on Pensacola's disabled list with a strained left hamstring...made his first appearance of the year on 4/15...entered the 2016 season rated the sixth-best prospect in the organization...attended his first Major League spring training camp...2015: In 110 apps at Class A Daytona and Class AA Pensacola combined to hit .278 with 10hr, 53rbi and 9 stolen bases...was a mid-season Florida State League All-Star and Arizona Fall League Rising Star...finished the season rated the 13th-best prospect in the FSL...ranked fourth among all Reds farmhands in hitting...overall made 92 apps at SS and 12 apps at 2B...missed most of July with a fractured left middle finger...following the season played for Peoria in the AFL (19g, .175, 2 2b, 2 3b, 3rbi, 1sb)...entered the season rated by MLB.com the organization's eighth-best prospect...in March made 4 exhibition apps for the Reds (1-5, 2rbi)...2014: In his first professional season was an Milb.com Organizational All-Star...in 63 apps at rookie Billings and Class A Dayton combined to hit .283 with 8hr, 32rbi and 7 steals.