Cincinnati Reds State of the Farm: First Base

Last week we kicked off the State of the Farm series by looking at the catcher position. You can see the entire series here, as each position is unveiled. We will continue to look at each position as we head towards spring training (2B, SS, 3B, OF, SP, RP are the spots remaining).

Starting at the bottom rung of the ladder in the US, Bruce Yari spent a majority of time at first for the Arizona League Reds. He was drafted in 2016 out of the University of British Columbia in the 24th round. He hit .270/.329/.350 with 12 walks and 29 strikeouts in 152 plate appearances. The power didn’t show up in his first pro season, but the rest of the numbers were solid.

In Billings it was Montrell Marshall who saw most of the time at first base. I wrote about the strides he was taking over the summer in Billings, and while he only hit .246/.339/.321 it was a big step forward. He walked significantly more than the previous year and he also cut his strikeout rate. There were too many strikeouts, though, and he needs to start turning his raw power into game power.

The Dayton Dragons saw James Vazquez play nearly every day at first base. The 23-year-old struggled at times, hitting .223/.295/.358 with 20 doubles, a triple and 14 home runs. The power was solid, but the rest of the hitting needed improvement. The first half performance was better than the second half. In April and May he posted an OPS of .759 over 49 games played. From June through the end of the season he posted a .592 OPS in 81 games.

Gavin LaValley played first base with Daytona, though two others also saw some time there. Avain Rachal played 41 games there and Brian O’Grady also saw some action there – but he will be discussed with the outfielders. I actually wrote about LaValley yesterday, so for a far more detailed look into his season you can click here. With the Tortugas he hit .275/.334/.470 on the season, but was even better in the second half. In the final 71 games he hit .296/.348/.515 with 25 doubles and 10 home runs. He also had 20 walks and 52 strikeouts in 296 plate appearances over that span.

Pensacola saw three different players get at least 37 games at first base, but only Eric Jagielo remains in the system. It was a very tough year for the former 1st round pick as he came back from a knee injury. After OPS’ing .842 in Double-A with the Yankees in 2015 before being injured he manged to his just .205/.305/.310 with Pensacola in 2016. His power dropped off significantly and his strikeout rate also jumped up. The Reds have to hope that his decline was health related and that he can bounce back to the hitter that he has shown in previous seasons.

Louisville saw five different players all get at least 18 starts at the position, but none of them project to be first basemen and several will be looked at for other positions.

Overall Thoughts

There’s no immediate need for a first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. Joey Votto is locked up for the next seven seasons (eight with a team option). That’s a good thing as there’s not a ton of depth here right now when it comes to players who were performing during 2016. Gavin LaValley was really the only first baseman who performed above the league average. Eric Jagielo and Montrell Marshall both have above-average raw power that could play well at the position, but both also need to do a lot more with the bat than they did in 2016.

This could be the weakest position in the entire system. Fortunately, the team has a long-term solution that will allow them to develop some of these guys at their own pace. Right now, it seems like Gavin LaValley and a whole bunch of question marks throughout the Reds system.

Grade: D-

Top 1st Base Tools

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I didn’t list speed, or defense here, because for the most part, it really doesn’t matter. If you can hit enough, they will play you at first base.

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