When the Cincinnati Reds drafted Brantley Bell in the 11th round of the 2015 draft the most notable thing known about him by most was that he was the son of Reds bench coach Jay Bell. There wasn’t a ton of scouting information available on Bell on draft day, but from the video that I was able to see I made note that he had some bat speed and a short stroke.
After playing his first year of college at Mississippi, Bell transferred to Florida-Manatee where he hit .325/.375/.469 in 228 at-bats. The numbers were solid, but he also drew just eight walks on the season, the only real wart on his resume from his time in college.
While he was drafted as a shortstop, he’s spent almost all of his time since being drafted as a third baseman. Of his 20 games played in the field, 17 of them have come at third base, with two at second and just one at shortstop. He’s also been the designated hitter in one game.
Bell signed an overslot deal for $400,000, which is $300,000 over the slot for his draft position and the equivalent of 5th round money. While it’s early in his career, the infielder is showing that decision to give him a larger-than-recommended bonus to be a very good decision.
There have only been two games this season where Bell hasn’t had a hit and in one of those games he walked twice. He is currently riding a 12-game hitting streak where he’s had 21 hits (.438 average) and just three strikeouts. That’s pushed his season line to .369/.438/.548 in 97 total plate appearances with eight walks and 14 strikeouts.
The third baseman has been using the entire field so far. While his pull rate to left field is low, it’s likely just due to balls not making it through the infield as he’s hitting a lot of balls to shortstop and third base, which you can see below in his spray chart.
It’s still early, and we are talking about a sample size of fewer than 100 plate appearances, but Brantley Bell is out to a great start to his professional career and is making the Reds look real smart for grabbing him in the 11th round. The 20-year-old is currently 6th in the league in average with a .369 mark, he’s walked at a rate higher than he ever did in college, and while he has yet to hit a home run, he’s doubled 11 times and tripled twice – showing off plenty of pop.