Reds news: Scott Heineman headed overseas to play for Tokyo Giants

Always an upbeat and positive follow on social media, former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Scott Heineman announced that he’s headed overseas to play for the Tokyo Giants. The former Oregon Duck played in 19 games for Cincinnati this season.

Heineman played the first two seasons of his major league career for the Texas Rangers before being dealt to the Cincinnati Reds this past winter. In 34 plate appearances, Heineman slashed just .100/.206/.300 and had two home runs a thee RBIs for the Redlegs.

Heineman made the announcement via Twitter on Friday morning, stating that he’d been wanting to share his excitement for nearly a month. The 28-year-old offered his gratitude to the Cincinnati Reds and wished his former team the best.

Former Reds outfielder Scott Heineman is headed to Japan.

As fans, we oftentimes become very critical of a player’s performance when they’re struggling, and Scott Heineman was no exception. The California native gained a considerable amount of playing time during May and June when Cincinnati’s roster was ravaged by injuries to Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas, and Nick Senzel.

Heineman was called upon after hitting .279 for Triple-A Louisville and showing value as a versatile outfielder who could also field first base. Heineman spend 58 innings in the outfield for the Reds and put in  just two innings of work at first base.

Unfortunately, Scott Heineman’s success at Triple-A did not translate to the big leagues and he was designated for assignment on June 28th and outrighted to Triple-A Louisville on July 1st. Heineman was later released on July 19th.

Reds Country wishes Heineman nothing but the best in his future endeavors, and hopefully the right-handed slugger will find his way back to the big leagues some day. Each player has found varying levels of success in the majors and sometimes the fairy tale ending isn’t in the cards.

Hopefully for Scott Heineman, has success with the Tokyo Giants and continues to carry his exceeding positive attitude overseas. Best of luck, Scott. Keep mashing.