Cincinnati Reds place three in the Southern League Top 20 Prospects

Baseball America just released their Top 20 Prospects list for the Southern League and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos were well represented, landing three players on the list. Having three players on the list isn’t terribly surprising, but it’s the order of the prospects that may catch some off guard. The Cincinnati Reds newest prospect Cody Reed was the highest ranked player, coming in at #10 on the list. He was followed at #12 by Robert Stephenson and at #18 by Jesse Winker.

Reed went out and dominated once he arrived in Pensacola after the trade. He posted a 2.17 ERA in 4.92 innings with 16 walks and 60 strikeouts. The left hander throws three quality pitches and plenty of strikes. He could wind up being the steal of the trade with Kansas City.

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Robert Stephenson began his season with Pensacola and had some struggles early on, perhaps a reason why he’s further down this particular list than expected, landing at #12. Through the first month of the season he had an ERA of 8.31, but over his next 10 starts it dropped to 2.26 before he was promoted to Triple-A. He’s throwing three quality pitches, but struggles with consistency at times, particularly with the strikezone. He was dominant at times, but struggled at times in 2015 as well.

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Much like Robert Stephenson, outfielder Jesse Winker got out to a slow start to the 2015 season and may have left him a little behind in the rankings than where he was expected to be. The left handed hitter posted a .229/.343/.314 line through May, though he walked 24 times with just 27 strikeouts. When June rolled around, everything changed and he was back to himself. In the final 81 games of the season he hit .310/.414/.497 with 50 walks and 56 strikeout.

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