The whirlwind day continues in Reds land as the Reds have announced that they have traded Mat Latos to the Marlins for RHP Anthony DeSclafani and catcher Chad Wallach.
Anthony DeSclafani
He has some big league experience with the Marlins, posting a 6.27 ERA in 33.0 innings in the 2014 season where he had just five walks and 26 strikeouts. Put the Reds defense behind him and I bet that ERA looks a whole lot better because his peripherals were strong. He posted a 3.44 ERA in Triple-A last season (The PCL, very hitter friendly) with as many strikeouts as innings pitched – 59. He walked 21 batters in that time frame.
He’s topped out at 97 MPH in the big leagues according to BrooksBaseball.net. He throws a four and two seam fastball, a cutter, a slider and a change up. The slider is considered to be an above-average offering and his change up is considered average. This seems like a good pick up. At worst he could be a power reliever. At best he looks like he could be a quality #3 starting pitcher. He will be 25-years-old next season. I haven’t looked to see if he is truly prospect eligible (innings wise, he is. He may not be due to service time). If he is eligible, he would be in that 8-15 prospect range. I’d have to really sit down and get more reports and watch more video on him to figure out the exact placement.
Chad Wallach
Wallach is a bit further away from the Majors. He just finished up a season in Low-A Greensboro where he hit .321/.430/.476 with 50 walks and 39 strikeouts. He also saw brief time with Jupiter in Advanced-A (19 games) where he hit .328/.436/.375 with 12 more walks and just 7 strikeouts. He was a 5th round pick in the 2013 draft. He will be 23-years-old next season. He allowed 10 passed balls in 91 games and threw out 26% of the attempted base runners. He’s been very successful in the minors so far, but he’s been slightly old for where he has played as well. I love that the Reds targeted a player with strong plate discipline in return. Catcher in the minors wasn’t as thin as it used to be, but it was still a bit thin. This is a good guy to grab.
Was this package worth one year of Latos? I’m not entirely sure. I think the reports on DeSclafani are very strong, so that could really sway things if he works out as a starter. If he winds up as a reliever, then it’s not nearly as good of a deal. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic.