Baseball America just began releasing their “Top Tools” articles for the minor leagues today and began with the Triple-A levels. The Reds only had one representative on the list in the International League, but it was a good one as right hander Robert Stephenson was named the top pitching prospect in the league.
The fact that Robert Stephenson was named as the top pitching prospect in the league both comes as a surprise and doesn’t at the same time. If you had told me that he was the top pitching prospect in the league, it would have made tons of sense. He’s very good. But when you look at the individual pitching tools categories another pitcher, Luis Severino of the Yankees, is listed as having the best fastball and best breaking ball in the International League. He’s also posted a 1.91 ERA in 11 starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, so it’s not been an issue of good pitches and lack of results for him either.
The Reds 22-year-old right hander can’t be too far behind Severino on the fastball and breaking ball charts as both pitches can be plus offerings. The change up has really taken a step forward this year as well, showing itself as at least a big league average offering right now with the potential to be more.
I’d expect to see a few more Reds on the lists as things move on to Double-A, Advanced-A and Low-A the rest of this week over at Baseball America. It doesn’t appear that the rookie league lists will come out until after their seasons are completed, or at least closer to the end of their season. This probably won’t be the last time that we see Robert Stephenson show up on a list as he is also eligible for the Double-A Southern League portion of the best tools list, which should be released tomorrow.