Reds in AFL: Dixon, Wallach acclimating to new organization

During the 2016 regular season, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos were one of the most consistent teams in all of Minor League baseball. The Double-A affiliate of the Reds won division titles in both halves of the Southern League and while they didn’t walk away with a championship, it’s hard to look at it as anything but a successful campaign.

Several players from that roster are trying to continue that success in the Arizona Fall League and at least in terms of team fortunes, the winning has carried forward. The Peoria Javelinas, the team for whom the Reds prospects are playing this fall, won 10 of their first 13 games of the AFL season.

Brandon Dixon played a big part on that Blue Wahoos team, spending the entire season on the roster and finishing with 16 home runs and 15 stolen bases while seeing time at second (his primary position), first and all three outfield spots.

“Pensacola is a beautiful place to play,” Dixon said. “We had a good team and we made the playoffs. It was a fun year.”

It wasn’t quite as much fun for Chad Wallach. A broken left hand forced the catcher/first baseman to miss about a month and half of the season, but he was back in plenty of time to participate in the postseason.

“It was a lot of fun,” Wallach said. “We had a great team there. We played really well, which always makes it better. It was a little rough missing six weeks, but other than that, it was a really good season.”

Wallach, the son of long-time big leaguer Tim and brother of former Minor Leaguers Matt and Brett Wallach, is no stranger to the Fall League. This is actually the third go-round for the former fifth-round pick of the Miami Marlins. Wallach played in 2014 while still with the Marlins, getting sent to the Reds that December in the Mat Latos trade. He was back a year later with his new organization, though he played more sparingly. Combined, Wallach hit .171 (14-for-82) in his two previous stints. In his first seven games this year, while playing first base exclusively (he caught in 2014-15), Wallach has gone 8-for-26 (.308) with a pair of …

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