The Chattanooga Lookouts 2023 Opening Day roster

Today was the day that the Cincinnati Reds affiliates that hadn’t started playing yet. The Chattanooga Lookouts got their roster out last on Tuesday afternoon.

Here’s the first look at the 2023 Chattanooga Lookouts roster:

The Lookouts roster has six of the Cincinnati Reds Top 25 prospects on it. There are three pitchers and three position players that make up that group of six, and five of those players are returning to Chattanooga.

Noelvi Marte is the lone Top 25 prospect that will be with the Lookouts for the first time this year. The Reds 3rd rated prospect spent his season with High-A Everett while he was with the Seattle Mariners organization in 2022 before being traded to the Reds at the deadline. After that he joined the High-A Dayton Dragons. Between his two stops he hit .279/.371/.458 with 23 doubles, 19 home runs, and 23 stolen bases in 115 games. The infielder then went to the Arizona Fall League where he began to play some third base for the first time in his career.

Cincinnati’s 15th rated prospect, Rece Hinds, will be making a return to Chattanooga. His time with the Lookouts last year only lasted a week. Hinds played in 67 games with Dayton earlier in the year, and he missed two months after a broken hamate bone. In his 79 games played the outfielder hit .233/.304/.428 with 11 doubles, 5 triples, and 12 home runs. But he also struck out 125 times in 322 plate appearances – a rate that he’s going to have to cut down on moving forward.

Joining Hinds in the outfield is Allan Cerda. The Reds 22nd rated prospect spent the second half with the Lookouts last year after playing with Dayton in the first half. Between the two stops, Cerda hit .208/.360/.444 with 168 strikeouts and 84 walks in 125 games. A strong defender with plenty of range and arm, Cerda can play anywhere in the outfield. He’s got plenty of power at the plate, but he will need to make more contact and do more with the contact that he does make.

Behind the plate you’ll see some sharing of the responsibilities as you do at nearly every level of professional baseball. But it’s Daniel Vellojin coming off of a huge winter ball season in Colombia that could be a guy who could put together a rebound kind of season. He led the Colombian Winter League in home runs and hit .292/.430/.597 with as many walks as he had strikeouts after struggling in 2022 as he returned from a broken hamate bone.

The rotation is going to feature three of the Reds top 25 prospects, including the top pitching prospect in the organization, Connor Phillips. The organization’s 8th rated prospect, Phillips made 12 starts with the Lookouts last season in the second half. He flashed big time stuff, but struggled to consistently find the strikezone. He walked 34 batters in 45.2 innings while striking out 60 and posting a 4.93 ERA.

Andrew Abbott spent nearly all of 2022 with Chattanooga after making five dominant starts to begin that season with Dayton. After the promotion, Abbott struggled to find consistency in much of his time with the Lookouts, posting a 4.75 ERA in 91.0 innings with 41 walks and 119 strikeouts. The Reds 14th rated prospect closed out the season in a big way, allowing no runs in his final three starts, walking just three batters, and striking out 21. He’ll look to build on that in his return.

Joe Boyle had one of the craziest seasons you’ll ever see in 2022. The Reds 17th rated prospect pitched in 17 games for the Dayton Dragons before spending the final few weeks in Chattanooga where he pitched in six games down the stretch. In total he posted a 2.86 ERA in 100.2 innings where he allowed just 46 hits, but walked 84 batters and racked up 153 strikeouts. Being more consistent with the strikezone is all that Boyle needs to do to take that next step, but it’s been something he’s struggled with since high school.

Sam Benschoter will see how well his stuff plays at the next level after having the highest whiff rate on two different pitches in the Florida State League last season. Pedro Garcia is returning to Chattanooga after spending much of the 2022 season with the Lookouts. Garcia pitched in the World Baseball Classic this spring for Colombia.