The Cincinnati Reds drafted Alex Blandino in the 1st round of the 2014 draft with the 29th overall pick. They received that pick as compensation for losing Shin-Soo Choo to free agency.
Blandino was sent to Billings for a month where he tore through the league, hitting .309/.412/.527 with 16 walks and 18 strikeouts in 131 plate appearances. That got him a promotion to Dayton for the final month of the season. In Dayton the infielder struggled at times, hitting .261/.329/.440. That line is solid enough, but his plate discipline numbers took a big step backwards as he walked 13 times and struck out 42 times in 152 plate appearances.
Let’s take a quick look at his two stops in 2014 from a peripheral standpoint:
| BB% | K% | IsoP | |
| Billings | 12.2% | 13.7% | 218 |
| Dayton | 8.6% | 27.6% | 179 |
In going from Billings to Dayton he saw his strikeout rate more than double, going from a strong rate to a poor rate. The walk rate dropped, but was still solid and the power, especially for the league, it was still strong. The giant jump in strikeouts though was concerning.
The Reds sent Blandino to their new Advanced-A affiliate Daytona to start the 2015 season. In April things went rather well as the shortstop hit .284/.372/.486 with 11 walks and just 6 strikeouts in 86 plate appearances. With the pitcher friendly nature of the Florida State League (currently the league has a .656 OPS – lowest among all leagues in the minors this season by a significant margin), an .859 OPS really stands out.
May has been a bit different, but still quite successful with a .348/.416/.391 line. The power has disappeared in the month while his walk and strikeout rates have also moved in opposite directions from April with seven walks and 16 strikeouts.
Despite the different kinds of production in the two months the overall numbers have still been fantastic. He’s hitting .315/.393/.441 with 18 walks and 22 strikeouts. He currently finds himself in the top 10 in average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS for the Florida State League.
There’s still some question as to whether he can remain at shortstop in the long run or will have to slide over to second or perhaps third base in the future. It seems that the small concerns that crept in after his time in Dayton that saw his strikeout rate more than double have been left in the rearview mirror and Blandino has taken that next step forward at the plate. He came into the season ranked 14th in the system, but has clearly done enough to jump forward in the rankings if they were to be reassessed at this point in the season.