Cincinnati Reds #1 Prospect: 3B Nick Senzel

When the 2016 season began, Nick Senzel was still playing baseball at the University of Tennessee. It wouldn’t be  until June that he joined the Cincinnati Reds organization, being drafted 2nd overall by the Reds.

After he signed with the Reds for $6.2M, the largest bonus they’ve ever given out to a draftee, the team sent him to join the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League. His first game went well, going 2-3 with a run, two RBI and he was hit by a pitch. He then proceeded to go 1-26 in the next eight game, walking five times with a double and four strikeouts. On June 29th he broke out of his slump, going 2-4 with a walk, run and RBI.

The organization promoted him to Dayton the next day and he would play his first game on July 1st. His first week with the Dragons went about as well as you could expect. Senzel hit .346 (9-26) with four doubles. It was the second half of the month that really pushed his numbers to the next level though. From July 16th through the end of the month the third baseman would hit .333/.474/.667 for Dayton. He did that while also walking more often than he struck out.

The hot-hitting carried forward into the first week of August where he managed a .357/.438/.750 line. Things slowed down a bit the rest of the month for Nick Senzel, as he hit .289/.368/.447 with nine doubles and a home run in the 20 remaining games. He finished out the year in a big way in the final four games, all coming in September, going 8-16 with five doubles and a triple.

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Nick Senzel Scouting Report

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Hitting | He can flat out hit. He combines his excellent pitch recognition with the ability to use all parts of the field, and ability to hit the ball hard to all parts of the field to show off an above-average to plus hitting tool that projects for a high average in the future.

Power | Coming into the draft this was an area of much debate, but the ball carries off of his bat quite well. He’s showing off above-average power at times already and some of his doubles are going to get over the fence very soon. 20-25 home runs should be expected, with his peak years possibly having a few more.

Running | Reports outing out of the draft were that Senzel was an average, maybe a slightly above-average runner. Scouts must not have been paying much attention to their times because from day one as a professional he was throwing down above-average to plus times down to first base out of the batters box. While I didn’t time him every play, the best time that I was able to get on him was a 4.06 to first base, which is plus speed.

Arm | As a third baseman his arm is plenty strong enough to remain at the position and is an above-average overall tool.

Fielding | In his debut he showed the ability to make all of the plays – coming in on the ball as well as showing good abilities to his left and right sides. He should be a quality defender at third base, though some scouts believe he’s got the ability to slide over to second base thanks to his quickness.

The overall package for Nick Senzel is one that appears to be without a weakness. He projects to hit for a high average and have plenty of pop in his bat while also walking quite a bit and making plenty of contact. At his peak being a .300/.400/.525 caliber hitter isn’t out of the question and you may be able to get 10-20 steals along with that. His pitch recognition stands out among players his age, but so do his other offensive tools. Defensively there’s not much to wonder about aside from whether or not the team will listen to some scouts and perhaps try him at second base – though it would seem the Reds have him in the plans at third for the long haul. While it’s still very early in his professional career, he’s about as sure of a thing as there is in the organization right now. He’s the total package and a player that should move rather quickly through the system.

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