Baseball America’s Top 20 Prospects in each league within the minors continues, and they got around to another league that features a Cincinnati Reds affiliate. The Florida State League has the Reds affiliate the Daytona Tortugas in it. And the league was led by Tampa Bay Rays super-prospect Wander Franco. Cincinnati didn’t land any prospects in the Top 10 of the league, but they did have two prospects make the list in the back-half of the Top 20.
Topping the list for the Cincinnati Reds was shortstop Jose Garcia. Among qualified hitters, the Daytona Tortugas middle infielder was in the top 10 in the league in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and he led the league with 37 doubles. He hit .280/.343/.436 in 104 games – missing almost all of April with an injury. Garcia also went 15-for-17 on stolen base attempts. For his efforts, the coaches within the league liked what they saw on both sides of the ball, though he was praised quite a bit for his defense. Garcia came in at #16 on the list. The 21-year-old is now playing for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League.
When the season began, the player to his right on the diamond was third baseman Jonathan India. The 2018 #5 overall pick spent the first half of the season with Daytona. He hit .256/.346/.410 with the Tortugas. His OPS of .756 was 90 points better than the league average and would have ranked 7th among qualified hitters had he racked up a handful more at-bats during the season before being promoted to Double-A. India was the #18 prospect on the list for the league. Like Garcia, India is also playing for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League currently.
Arizona Fall League Update
Why not just toss an AFL update in here with two of the Reds prospects being mentioned above also playing in the league right now?
| Player | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| Jonathan India | 29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 1 | .034 | .176 | .069 |
| Tyler Stephenson | 19 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .368 | .478 | .526 |
| Jose Garcia | 19 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | .263 | .364 | .474 |
| Stuart Fairchild | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .273 | .273 | .273 |
Offensive there’s some half-and-half going on here. Tyler Stephenson and Jose Garcia are hitting the ball well out in Arizona thus far. Everything is a small sample size, of course, but in their small sample size, they’ve hit well. On the flip side, Stuart Fairchild and Jonathan India have not. Fairchild has only played in three games and he’s struck out just once, but he’s 3-11 with no walks or extra-base hits thus far. And then there’s Jonathan India. He has actually struggled. He’s 1-29 with 11 strikeouts. Small sample size, for sure, but the infielder has certainly struggled so far.
| Player | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| Dauri Moreta | 2.25 | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1.00 |
| Diomar Lopez | 6.35 | 5.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1.41 |
| Jordan Johnson | 6.43 | 7.0 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2.00 |
| Cory Thompson | 9.00 | 4.0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2.00 |
Dauri Moreta clearly sticks out here. His ERA is low and his strikeout and walk rates are good. The other three pitchers have struggled with their ERA’s. But both Diomar Lopez and Cory Thompson have had solid rates in their small sample size of innings, but runs have come across the plate against them. Jordan Johnson has had some struggles, particularly with his control, in his three games.