This story was excerpted from the Reds Beat Newsletter, which was written this week by Jesse Borek from the MLB Pipeline staff. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Arij Fransen was nervous. On the precipice of leaving his native Netherlands and signing a professional contract with the Reds, there was one question looming over the 6-foot-3 right-hander:

“How’s your English?”

“I thought it was pretty good!” said a laughing Fransen during the Arizona Fall League last month, his inclusion on the circuit the latest indication the organization is enjoying the progress made by the Dutchman.

Fransen knew that as he acclimated to pro ball, he'd have to polish up a lot more than just his English. He inked his first professional contract with the Reds just seven days after his 18th birthday in 2019, but stayed back in Holland to pitch for Honkbalclub Allen Weerbaar as a means of gaining further experience. His arrival stateside was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as Fransen didn’t arrive at the club’s complex in Goodyear, Ariz., until 2021.

When an organization selects and signs a pitcher out of the high school ranks during the MLB Draft, there’s often a considerable learning curve to the pro game. The same goes for the international ranks. To further compound Fransen’s need to get up to speed, Netherlands isn’t exactly the prep travel ball scene of Texas, California or Florida.

After two full years spent at the club’s lower levels getting stronger and getting his body prepared for the rigors of pro ball, this season was the first in which the Reds sent Fransen out as a full-time reliever. Still working in a multi-inning capacity, the results took a noticeable jump, as the 23-year-old worked to the tune of a 3.86 ERA across 67 2/3 innings for High-A Dayton. It’s a role Fransen feels he is uniquely suited for.

“When I got into [the bullpen], you can also see the fun in emptying the tank for one inning or something,” Fransen said. “[Glendale pitching coach Brian Garman] was also my pitching coach in season [at Dayton] and he'll remind me sometimes like, ‘Hey, you're a better pitcher if you're like 95 [mph] instead of like 92, 94.’”

Fransen was tremendously difficult to square up, allowing just one home run all season, leading all Reds Minor Leaguers (min. 60 innings) who spent the entirety of the year at a full-season affiliate in HR/9 rate (0.13).

For all of the pressure to perform during the Fall League in a limited sample size in front of the prospect-watching world, it’s far from the biggest stage Fransen has pitched on: That belongs to the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Representing his native Netherlands, he made one appearance out of relief during the club’s Pool A play.

But it was another former Red who served as something of a mentor for Fransen during his time with the Dutch national team: Didi Gregorius.

“He was telling one of the rookie pitchers, ‘Hey, this guy, he's tipping his pitches’ and he was just five pitches in,” Fransen said of Gregorius. “So I had more of an understanding of what good hitters see.”

Players from six countries all competed under the Dutch flag in 2023, making the group something of a hodgepodge of ballplayers relying on the game as their unifying language. But they always had Gregorius to rely on -- both at the plate and in their native tongue.

“Didi, he switched every person, he spoke seven languages,” said a laughing Fransen. “He was like the guy that was like, ‘Oh, you're from the Netherlands, I'll speak Dutch with you. Oh, you're American, I'll speak English. Oh, you're Latin American, I’ll speak Spanish.’”

The Reds’ recent international focus has been sizable: They have signed one of the top six international prospects on the first day of the signing period for three years running. In addition to Latin America, they have added prospects from Taiwan, Australia and more.

Perhaps the most prominent case of discovering a previously unheralded gem is shortstop Elly De La Cruz. Signed for just $65,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2018, he finished eighth in National League MVP voting this past season. The organization has gone to extraordinary lengths to identify talent, no matter where they play as an amateur.

The Netherlands is a nation that has long had a storied affinity for baseball, although players born in Holland have often struggled to break through to the big league level. Just 11 have done so dating back to 1871, with the most recent being Gregorius.

But the international landscape of the game is changing. Travis Bazzana (Australia) was the first overall pick in the 2024 Draft. Roki Sasaki (Japan) is the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 international class and figures to quickly ascend to the top of prospect rankings once he signs. Chinese Taipei won Premier12 in November. MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list features players born in nine nations, including the Bahamas and Italy.

“I think the biggest thing is when I go back [to Holland] that I'm encouraging the younger generation and that they see, ‘Oh, there's another side, it's not just Dutch baseball. You can make it,’” Fransen said. “So the better I do and other Dutch players do, I think that helps a lot. Like the more we perform in big tournaments, [kids can see] you can play internationally.”