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    Carson Spiers (Photo: Redleg Nation Staff)
    Photo: Redleg Nation Staff

    Cincinnati Reds Minor League Game Review: April 4, 2024

    Doug Gray 15

    For the last time in quite a while, the Louisville Bats were the lone team playing in the Reds farm system. They trailed 2-0 after the 1st inning, but got two home runs from Conner Capel and then scored three runs in extra-innings to pull off a come from behind win in Gwinnett on Thursday night.

    Through Friday the 12th I will be including the Top 25 Prospect Rundown here on the site and game notes, but after that if you would like to get that each and every day, you can get it emailed to you every morning during the season by signing up at Patreon and helping support the site.

    The Louisville Bats won 5-4 in 11. Box Score

    Game Notes

    Carson Spiers allowed a single, a walk, and a triple in the 1st inning that led to two runs. Over the next four innings he only allowed one baserunner – a walk in the 2nd inning.

    The Bats would eventually tie the game up when Conner Capel hit solo home runs in the 2nd and 7th innings. Both teams would score a run in the 10th, but Louisville got two runs in the 11th inning and RBI singles by Mike Ford and P.J. Higgins and held on in the bottom of the inning for the win.

    When the game was over, seven of the nine starters in the lineup for the Bats were hitting under .200. Conner Capel is hitting .357 thus far.

    Brooks Kriske has tossed 3.0 shutout innings with five strikeouts out of the bullpen for Louisville this season.

    Top Pitch Velocity: Tony Santillan – 96.7 MPH (strike)

    Top Exit Velocity: Conner Capel – 105.2 MPH (home run)

    Furthest Hit Baseball: Conner Capel – 400 feet (home run)

    Highlights

    Top 25 Prospects Rundown

    Today should be one of the last days of the season in which there’s only one team that played and the rundown should be quite full moving forward.

    4/5 Game Preview

    Team RecordTime (ET)Probable Box ScoreListen Watch
    Louisville4-27:05pmGilbertHereHereHere
    Chattanooga0-08:00pmTBAHereHereHere
    Dayton0-07:05pmLowderHereHereHere
    Daytona0-06:10pmTBAHereHereHere
    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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    15 Responses

    2. Minor league baseball is about to get busy.

      Top 10 reasons I am excited about Reds minor league basball:

      1. The Daytona 9 becomes the Dayton 10 – Logan Tanner has joined Cade Hunter behind the plate. I am not sure which one of these catchers will be the better prospect by year end but I like the chances of at least one of them cracking Doug’s top 25. The infield remains the same (Collier, Balcazar, Stewart and Acosta). Jay Allen II and Ethan O’Donnell have replaced Almonte and Valdez. I am no more excited about Jay Allen than I was about Almonte. However, I threw Valdez in to complete the nine last year and I am super excited about O’Donnell (see 9 below).

      2. Petty vs. Lowder – I have Petty as the Reds #2 prospect for the Reds. Everyone else has Lowder as the number two prospect. I have Lowder as the #6 prospect for the Reds. Everyone else has Petty as about the #6 prospect for the Reds. I felt all winter that the experts were not giving Petty enough credit. I was hoping the experts were right about Lowder. Petty is a year younger than Lowder and a level higher than Lowder. That gives me reason to believe Petty deserves to be ranked in everyone’s top 100 overall prospect list. Given health, I think Petty will be a top 50 overall prospect at YE and hope he will be a top 25 prospect. I think Lowder will be a top 100 prospect at YE and hope he will be a top 50 prospect. In my eyes, Petty is the better prospect but am excited about having both as Reds prospects.

      3. Cam Collier – Last October I stated on a post that I felt Collier would adjust the launch angle on his swing and be the Reds #1 prospect come YE 2024. Then the Reds received the 2nd pick of this year’s draft and I revised it to him being one of the two best prospects for the Reds. Marte’s suspension opens the door to him being a prospect next October. This would put Collier in a three-way battle for the best prospect. Finally, after writing what I did above about Petty and Lowder it may be a 4 or 5-way battle.

      4. The pitching depth in Louisville – Once Lodolo is back next week Louisville could very well have a rotation including Andrew Abbott, Brandon Williamson, Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson and Carson Spiers. The bullpen already has Tony Santillian and Casey Legumina and will include TeJay Antone when Sam Moll returns to Cincinnati. Christian Roa will also join the bullpen at some point.

      5. Alfredo Duno – For the second year in a row the Reds have an 18-year-old player beginning the season in Daytona. This is actually quite incredible. If Duno’s bat plays in Daytona he could very well be a top 100 prospect in six months. He may even find his way to Dayton this summer.

      6. Carlos Sanchez – Last summer Sanchez had an ISO of .160. However, with only one home run and coming from the DSL where he had an ISO of .087. I still did not think of him as a power hitter. This winter for Perth he had an ISO of .106 but really picked it up in the playoffs. In the Futures game vs. the Rangers future prospects, he batted 4th and played a pretty good game at SS. Batting him 4th may mean nothing. But I am intrigued nonetheless.

      7. Dominican Summer League – The Reds have recently had success signing two big names each year. The last three years they include Ariel Almonte, Malvin Valdez, Ricardo Cabrera (Doug’s #7 prospect), ESmith Pineda (#22), Alfredo Duno (#10) and Sheng-En Ling. This year they signed Aldolfo Sanchez and Naibel Mariano. I am excited to see these two. Just as important, the Reds seem to sign one or two prospects that produce for them. This list includes Carlos Jorge (#8), Leonardo Balcazar (#11), Carlos Sanchez, Alfredo Alcantara and Yeycol Soriano. I am looking forward to discovering who will be this year. I have heard good things about Jirvin Morillo. It would not surprise me if one of the two prospects from Aruba (Juan Brown and Riangelo Richardson) or one of the three prospects from Curacao (Nayerich Waterfort, Peson Revierre and Shendrion Martinus) were underscouted.

      8. 18 and in Daytona – In addition to Collier and Duno starting their seasons in Dayton at the age of 18 the Reds have had three prospects finish their season in Daytona as 18-year-old players. Hector Rodriguez did it in 2022 and Ricardo Cabrera and Carlos Sanchez did it in 2023. I am very interested about all three of these prospects in 2024.

      9. Class of 2023 – I am excited about Rhett Lowder, Sammy Stafura, Hunter Hollan, Cole Schoenwetter and Connor Burns. But I am really excited about Ethan O’Donnell. I think O’Donnell’s season could look similar to that of Blake Dunn’s 2023 season.

      10. Class of 2022 sleepers – There is plenty of talk about Collier and Stewart and justifiably so. However, I am really excited to see Adam Serwinowski pitch this year. Can Zach Maxwell take the next step? I am hoping both catchers in Dayton (Tanner and Hunter) take the next step and hope Ben Brutti stays healthy.

      1. That’s a lot Stock. I am also excited about the minors. A little of the air has been let out of the Reds with all the injuries and the suspension. Thanks for putting it all out there.

      2. #2 Might need to include Phillips as well. His downside is/was control. He’s hasn’t seemed to have that issue in spring or his 1st start of the year. It’s a big if, but if he continues to show he has improved his control, he’s a top 3 MLB starter.

        I kinda hope we space out the graduations of these guys.

        Lowder, grad mid 2026 (TC-2032)
        Petty, grad mid 2025 (TC-2031)
        Phillips, grad mid 2024 (TC-2030)
        Greene/Abbott/Williamson (TC-2029)
        Ashcraft (TC-2028)
        Lodolo (TC-2027)

        With Greene, and Lodolo we probably brought them both up at least a season too early. We don’t have a big payroll now, so there won’t likely be a fire sale that creates the same pressing need to A) fill out a roster, and B) placate a disappointed fan base after said fire sale. Krall can afford to give these prospects the time they need to develop properly in the minors.

        And then Yes on pretty much all 10 of you list, and even more.

        1. I agree MBS. It will be nice if Phillips, Lowder and Petty are in the same conversation by the end of May.

          Right now the experts have Lowder 1st, followed by Phillips and then Petty. I don’t think it is a matter of scouts bumping Lowder down. If Phillips does show command he will move up to where Lowder is currently ranked. I believe that once Petty hits the 50-100 IP point this year the experts will have him in the top 50 and ahead of Lowder.

      3. I too have Petty as my number 2 Reds prospect after Marte’s suspension, but Lowder is now my number 1.

        I too am excited to see what Duno does after an excellent year at the plate in the DSL last year. Excited to see how he is behind the plate this year.

        I’m Sal Stewart over Cam Collier, but both have a lot of promise. I’ll happily eat crow if Collier has the kind of year you think he will.

        Reds are in the group with the highest intl pool again this year, so I hope we keep adding two high end itno signings

        1. I only saw an inning or two of Duno behind the plate but I took note of his hands and was impressed. To be continued.

      4. Random Notes:

        1. O’Donnell in the 6th round will likely exceed in value our previous year’s no 2 pick, Boyd. This reflects the incredible depth on the 2023 draft given the highly limited and limiting 2020 draft.

        2a. Lowder just showed up at 52 in the updated BA top 100.

        2b. Lowder v. Petty

        Scouting Grades (BA)
        Lowder: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 60 | Control: 60
        Petty: Fastball: 50 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 60

        Change v. slider — May the best off speed pitch win!

        3. BA was unusually harsh regarding Collier, beginning in June when the ground ball data emerged ,and they just ran with it. MLB.com and Doug were much more forgiving given Cam’s youth and being his first year in full season ball and playing in those FL parks, but also pointing out his exit velo’s.

        4. The Bats’ pitching will be just mad. The starters speak for themselves. In addition, while I concur Roa ends up in the pen, I don’t think he was added to the 40-man to relieve before he exhausts his starting opportunities. I’m also bullish on Legumina and I think this year at AAA will be exactly what the doctor ordered to polish his game. I’m also impressed with Stevie Branch so far, especially his fastball.

        5. Duno. I’m all about letting these kids spend a full year at their first year of full season ball, adjusting to the grit and grind. It’ll be a true test dealing with those soul crushing ballparks down there. I’d think Connor Burns, a great, great Scottish name by the way, would be called up before Duno.

        6. My impression of the Sanchez place in the batting order was simply as an easy replacement when Arroyo was scratched. I would not read more into it. That said, I am very excited for this kid. His speed on his extra base hit in the breakout game was impressive.

        7. One thing to watch in the DSL is the earlier start and end dates. Where do the prospects go when their league ends mid summer?

        8. The Reds have an interesting thing going with their ‘one-step-at-a-time’ development practice offset by their willingness to be aggressive in starting kids on the younger end of the spectrum in their respective leagues, as well as their willingness to promote based on merit.

        9. Unfortunately, the 23 class has taken two big hits, with both Ty Floyd and Hunter Hollan being inured on and the 60-day.

        10. If you have not seen Logan Tanner’s arm, brace yourself. It’s a laser.

    3. Spiers was really sharp. Just watching him execute his pitches, staying down in the zone, you can see he has a ML job at some point, somewhere.

    4. I don’t have enough time to make a whole post about this right now (I’m helping a family member move today), but it looks like we’re going to get to watch a lot more Daytona Tortugas this year. Bradenton and St. Lucie had been the only two teams with MiLBtv for years now. I checked this morning and Clearwater, Dunedin, Fort Myers, and Lakeland are now all also listed.

    5. Brian Edgington, an undrafted free agent who signed with the Reds last year, gets the opening day start for the Tortugas.

      Probably not a bad idea to go with a college pitcher and college catcher for opening day.

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