Cincinnati Reds acquire OF Randy Ventura

The Cincinnati Reds have acquired outfielder Randy Ventura from the Atlanta Braves. To acquire Ventura the Reds sent international pool slot money to the Braves. This is the second trade that the organization has made, using their pool money to acquire players via trade. They sent a big slot value over to the Boston Red Sox on July 2nd to acquire Nick Longhi. The trade was first reported by Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Reds acquired Braves minor-league OF Randy Ventura for international bonus space today.

— Zach Buchanan (@ZachENQ) August 4, 2017

Randy Ventura signed with the Braves in February of 2015 as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. He played that season with the DSL Braves and hit .329/.421/.394 in 274 plate appearances. Most impressively, though, was that he stole 55 bases. They brought him stateside the next season as an 18-year-old and assigned him to the Gulf Coast League Braves. In 227 plate appearances there he more than held his own. In 57 games he would hit .284/.358/.351. There wasn’t much power, hitting just two doubles, four triples and one home run. He did steal 15 bases on the year and walked nearly as often as he struck out (25 walks, 31 strikeouts).

In 2017 the Braves pushed him to full season baseball. He was assigned to the Rome Braves where he’s spent the entire 2017 season to this point. In his 95 games played there he’s hit for a good average, .295, but he’s struggled in other areas of the game. He’s walked 24 times with 83 strikeouts and he’s only slugged .325. In 413 trips to the plate, Randy Ventura has hit just seven doubles, a triple and a home run. He’s stolen 29 bases in 41 attempts (71%).

Randy Ventura just turned 20-years-old on July 11th, so he’s still quite young. He’s listed at 5′ 9″ and 165 lbs, so there probably isn’t much physical projection left with him and that means that he’s probably never going to hit for much power, though there is a chance he could hit for more than he has to this point in his career.

Defensively Randy Ventura has played all three outfield spots in the Braves system, though this year it’s been mostly right field. Given his stolen base totals over the last three years, I’d imagine he’s got enough speed to play in center field, but that’s just me making an educated guess at this point in time.

Career Stats