Cam Collier’s 2025 season could not have begun in more frustrating fashion. In just the first week of March, he tore the UCL in his left thumb while tagging out a baserunner in Cactus League play in Arizona
during spring training, an injury that required surgery and over a month of rehab.
MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon detailed the situation at the time.
Keep in mind that this came on the heels of a 2024 season where Collier socked 20 dingers for High-A Dayton, a mark that tied for the most among all hitters in the Midwest League. And, of course, he did that at just 19 years of age.
The former 1st round pick of the Reds was eased in upon his return to the field following surgery and recovery, first getting two weeks with the ACL Reds in Goodyear before returning to Dayton for a pair of weeks in June. He eventually was promoted up to AA Chattanooga for the remainder of the 2025 season, yet a cursory glance at his season stats shows that the power he flashed throughout 2024 simply did not return.
He hit only 4 homers across all levels in 2025, including just 2 in 308 PA with the Lookouts. The rest of his game looked quite fine – he did hit .279 with a .391 OBP in 396 PA across that trio of stints – but he slugged just .384 overall, including just .347 at AA.
So, it was encouraging to see Cam listed among the Cincinnati Reds contingent heading to the Arizona Fall League this October, as it signaled that the Reds thought he still had plenty more to work on to fully get back to where he’d been prior to the injury. They clearly thought he had a lot more rust to shake off, and the early returns from his work with the Peoria Javelinas suggest they were correct.
Through the first two weeks of the season, Cam ranks among the Top 10 in hits (T-7th), OBP (8th), walks (T-10th), doubles (T-4th), and runs (T-8th), all while boasting an impressive 8/10 BB/K in 31 AB and a 1.004 OPS that ranks 11th in AFL play. He also ripped a homer on October 17th that left the bat at 107.2 mph.
While his youth and injury have bumped him slightly to the back of the minds of many Reds fans, it’s worth pointing out that a) he hit .337/.425/.452 over his final 120 PA of the season at AA and b) when he’s healthy he has pop to spare. That means that if he wraps AFL play in a good spot, there’s every reason to believe he’ll hit his way to AAA at some point in 2026 – on much the similar path as Sal Stewart a year before him.
How much his play in the desert over the next few weeks directly impacts the Reds decision making for the rest of the offseason is impossible to quantify, but rest assured him showing all the tools that made him a Top 100 prospect prior to his injury and his proximity to the big league roster will be the complete opposite of unnoticed. Cam, clearly, is very much back on the radar, and has his sights set on Cincinnati at some point next year.
(Remind me again why the Reds traded for a 3B who can’t hit who’s signed through 2030?)
