Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Dragons on Deck: Jose Siri

December 6, 2019

Position: Center fielderSiri was signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an international free agent (Dominican Republic) prior to the 2013 season. 

Position: Center fielder
Siri was signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an international free agent (Dominican Republic) prior to the 2013 season. 

2019 Season: Siri has been one of the most closely-watched prospects in the Reds organization since his off-the-charts season with the Dragons in 2017. He reached the Triple-A level for the first time in his career during the second half of the 2019 with Louisville. He opened the 2019 season with Double-A Chattanooga and played in 101 games, batting .251 with 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases. Six of his 11 homers came in July, his final month with Chattanooga. He then played in 30 games with Louisville and got off to a very poor start, going 0 for his first 19 and just 5 for his first 45 (.111). He hit .345 over his last eight games to finish at .186 at Louisville. While the season did not produce the results Siri would have liked, it did culminate in a quick climb up the ladder as he reached the highest level of the minor leagues in less than two years after his last game in Dayton.
With the Dragons:  When selecting the greatest single-season performance in Dragons history, there are two that stand out above all others. They are the 2000 season for Austin Kearns and the 2017 season for Jose Siri. While he is best remembered for breaking a 40-year-old Midwest League record by producing a 39-game hitting streak, Siri's season overall was one for the ages. He led the league in six major hitting categories, finished second in two others, and was selected as the league's "best defensive outfielder" and "fastest baserunner." Siri finished first in the MWL in slugging percentage, hits, extra base hits, total bases, runs, and stolen bases. He finished second in home runs and triples. He also batted .293 to finish fifth in the circuit while belting 24 home runs and stealing 46 bases. He became the first Midwest League player since 1982 to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 40 bases in a season. He led the Dragons to the Midwest League playoffs with an exceptional combination of power, speed, and defense. Some observers made the case that no Reds prospect since Eric Davis in the early 1980's possessed such a strong mix of Siri's overall tools, including the ability to hit for both power and a high batting average, to steal bases, to throw out opposing base runners from his position in center field, and to cover huge amounts of territory on defense while making incredible athletic catches of line drives and deep fly balls. With the Dragons in 2017, Siri was an unstoppable force in every element of the game.
Outlook:  Coming off a disappointing 2019 season, Siri hopes to rebound in 2020 at Louisville. As the best defensive center fielder in the Reds organization, he should reach the major leagues in some capacity if he can improve his performance at the plate.
Fun Facts: Siri's 39-game hitting streak with the Dragons began on June 22, 2017 and continued through August 3 of that year. He broke the league record, set in 1977 by Waterloo's Tony Toups, on July 31 at Fort Wayne in his final at-bat of the day, drilling a base hit off an 0-2 pitch. Toups, now living in Florida, did a phone interview on the Dragons radio broadcast prior to the game…Six times during the hitting streak, Siri waited until his final plate appearance to keep it alive. Perhaps the most unlikely extension of the streak came on July 4 at Bowling Green when Siri entered the ninth inning without a hit and was scheduled as the seventh batter due up in the inning. A two-out, bases loaded walk to Dragons pinch hitter Kevin Franklin gave Siri one more chance, and he delivered a hit to extend the streak to 12 straight games. The streak would continue until it ended exactly one month later.
###