Amir Garrett & Alex Blandino named Top Prospects in the Florida State League

The Florida State League Top 20 prospects list was released this morning at Baseball America. The league has 12 teams, giving a fair representation to just under two players to each organization.

The Cincinnati Reds landed two players on the list. Daytona Tortugas starting pitcher and league pitcher of the year Amir Garrett topped the Reds representatives, coming in at #6 on the list. He was joined by infielder Alex Blandino at #13 on the list.

Left handed starter Amir Garrett was arguably the best pitcher in the league according to the stats, where he was 2nd in the league in both ERA and in strikeouts over the course of 140.1 innings pitched in the regular season. Garrett was the 3rd pitcher on the list behind Alex Reyes of the Cardinals (promoted midseason) and Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays (also promoted at midseason). He went out with the Tortugas for the playoffs twice and tossed another 13.0 innings with 19 more strikeouts, just two walks and two earned runs.

There was in improvement in velocity from the lefty from 2014 to 2015 and he was able to carry it deeper into games as well. His breaking ball is still his bread and butter pitch to get hitters out with. Control will be an area he will look to improve on moving forward as he can be inconsistent at times in the department.

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Shortstop Alex Blandino was the 13th overall prospect in the league. He hit .294/.370/.438 before earning a promotion to Double-A in early August. When he was promoted he was easily leading the Florida State League in OPS (where the league average was .650).

The 2014 1st round pick (the Reds 2nd pick that season) moved quickly through the lower levels of the organization where his bat stands out a little more than his glove. Offensively he’s bringing a good approach with a little bit of pop and good plate discipline. Defensively he’s splitting time at second base and shortstop, though shortstop isn’t likely his future position.

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