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    Is Jose Garcia the Reds fastest rising prospect?

    Doug Gray 29

    This has been an interesting year for the Cincinnati Reds farm system. Heading into spring training Nick Senzel was the top prospect, Hunter Greene was getting ready to start pitching, Nick Lodolo was still pitching at Texas Christian University, and Taylor Trammell was still a Reds prospect. Oh, and Josh VanMeter and Aristides Aquino were afterthoughts on the farm.

    But it’s now August 23rd. Nick Senzel has long since graduated. Taylor Trammell was traded. Hunter Greene unfortunately got hurt and hasn’t pitched since the end of spring training and underwent Tommy John surgery.

    On the flip side, guys like Josh VanMeter and Aristides Aquino went from afterthoughts to game changers in the Major Leagues. Those two guys have to be the biggest risers from the farm system this year. But they are now in the Major Leagues. They don’t look like they’ll be heading back to the minors anytime soon, either.

    So if we are going to look at the players that are in the minors still and ask who is the fastest riser, the answer for me is rather simple: Jose Garcia. If we rewind a little bit all the way back to the spring of 2018, I was on record noting that he looked like the best player in Reds camp while I was in Goodyear. And I wasn’t the only person who felt that way. But once the season started, things didn’t go well. He hit just .245/.290/.344 with 19 walks and 112 strikeouts on the season. He did improve every month of the season while in Dayton in 2018. However, it was a struggle for him at the plate.

    The Reds felt comfortable promoting him up a level to start 2019. Despite heading to the incredibly pitcher friendly Florida State League with the Daytona Tortugas, he’s shown big improvements in the numbers he put up in 2018. And that’s before we even adjust for the league he’s playing in. On the season, Jose Garcia is hitting .274/.339/.421 with 36 doubles, a triple, and he’s hit 6 home runs. He’s also walked 24 times and stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts. His OPS is 94 points higher than the league average.

    But the 21-year-old shortstop has really stepped things up in August. Last night saw Garcia go 3-4 with a walk. That boosted his line to .378/.432/.541 through 19 games during the month. Offensively you could see the tools and pieces that were there in the past. But the consistency in using them wasn’t there in 2018. This year he’s been able to tap into them more frequently – particularly the power. He missed three weeks in April, but still has 36 doubles on the season. The home runs haven’t been there yet, but some of those doubles are likely going to start going over the fence in the future.

    When you couple the steps forward at the plate along with the fact that he’s a strong defensive shortstop, you’ve got a real prospect worth talking about. And right now, he’s tearing through the month of August to finish out a season that saw him take big steps forward.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    29 Responses

    2. Yeah it’s almost impossible not to notice what Garcia has been doing and I believe it’s past the proverbial small sample size alert. In the small sample size alert category, though, what Miguel Hernandez is doing is pretty darn impressive to say the least. Has the light switch flipped on for him, too? I guess only time will tell, but we’ve possibly got two very attractive pieces in these two youngsters.
      Conversely, was hoping AlfRod would be doing better in AAA.

      1. I’m not worried about alfrod, he got a late start in minors so take out his age he’s progressed normally with a shot to earn a spot on the horizon. I don’t think he will earn it but his emergence has been nice- I expect another good year out of him 3a next season.

    3. Garcia and Hernandez are doing very well. Finally, 2 rising prospects at the premium position of shortstop. Its been awhile since we could say that (Larkin?).

        2. I don’t recall much buzz about either player. Cozart was expected to contribute in the majors but Didi didn’t hit until he went to the Yankees. That’s why Arizona got him rather cheaply.

    4. Just to check and make sure, since he signed in 2017, he is ineligible for the rule 5 draft this winter, correct?

        1. Thanks! That’s what I thought being 2017, I just didn’t know if international rules had any differences.

    5. This has been the best year of player development by far in 4/5 years I been on this site. Every year there will be plenty of players that don’t meet expectations- that’s minor league baseball. So It’s nice to see a guy break out in A ball but much better when they do that in 3a. Reds have put senzel Aquino Vanmeter and Kuhnel on major roster.

      Staples on pitching staff like Castillo, bobsteve, Garrett have all performed better than expected.

      Alfrod, tysteve, Garcia India siana naughton Richardson have all performed better than expected coming into season.

      Way to go reds in changing things for the better!

    6. Having 36 doubles is a great, great sign. It’s hard to luck into a lot of doubles. Garcia’s walk rate is 6%, which is something he can work on. Garcia is why I am happy with the Reds keeping Galvis for another year or so, rather than overpay for a shortstop in trade or free agency.

      Garcia, Mike Siani and Tyler Stephenson are my finalists for Reds’ minor league position player of the year. (Aquino and VanMeter having graduated, I excluded them.) It is a very strong showing for the system to produce a shortstop, a centerfielder and a catcher with very bright futures.

    8. While I like Taylor Trammell a lot, I feel like Garcia has a chance to be an overall better player. His trajectory seems higher, based on his defensive skills. I hope they both have great careers.

      I am happy overall with the Reds both at the majors and the minors. They have some great young players and management that is at worst, trying to be aggressive.

      1. Trammell is really struggling with Padres AA team. Last I looked, he was hitting well under Mendoza line.

        2. I believe they’ve changed his entire hitting stance, which would likely explain some of his struggles.

    9. Our prospects have been making some noise for sure. Doing just about everything but winning.

    10. Scout told us last year Garcia would be best player on the Dragons. Didn’t work out that way but you could tell by watching them walk on the field, just from an eye test, he was the best athlete on the field. He is an intelligent kid as well. I can also tell how hard he was trying to improve himself. He was working hard on his English before he got to Dayton and continued it while there. Some of the Latin guys just go through the motions of learning but he embraced it.

    11. On an unrelated topic, why did the Reds bother to activate and then option Mahle? He was on rehab assignment since August 16, so they could have just let him continue on that until roster expansion in September where they could activate him without wasting an option. It may not matter in the end as I think he still has another option for the future, but it just seemed unnecessary.

      2. Other site said that an option is not wasted if recalled within 20 days. This gives room for him to rehab, then be a September call up without burning an option.

      3. As long as they call him up when rosters expand he won’t have spent enough time in the minors on this option for it to actually count as an option. Has to be down for 20 days for that to happen. It won’t.

    12. Not only is he the fastest rising prospect, he is also arguably the most import prospect. He plays a premium position that truly can affect the team on both sides of the ball. If he can be a difference maker at SS, you have the potential of seeing Stenzel in CF, Garcia at SS, and Stephenson at C for many years,

      1. I would argue that Hunter Greene is our most important prospect (and sorry if it’s wrong, but part of that is bc of passing in MacKenzie Gore in that draft). His ceiling is an ace.

        1. Greene and Stephenson are the two others I had in mind as well. But for me, a SS plays 150+, where as a pitcher only plays 30, not to mention the restructuring of bullpens to work more high leverage innings. That for me makes Garcia more important than Greene.

    13. Boxberger released. Oh well. Not sure why the Reds picked up Tazawa. He may not pitch at all for the Reds organization.

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