Home
    Articles
    Tyler Stephenson (Photo: Doug Gray)
    Photo: Doug Gray

    Which Reds prospects have the best tools?

    Doug Gray 20

    Baseball America released their annual list of the best tools on the minor league side of things on Wednesday afternoon. The Cincinnati Reds weren’t exactly well represented on the list, but they did have more than a few players represent them on the list. It’s worth noting here that these results are based on voting by the managers within each league and not by scouts who cover the players. That’s not to say managers are not informed at all – but they do have different kinds of looks than scouts do, too. And they may look at things a little bit differently as well.

    When it comes to the best prospect in a league, there were no Reds present. That’s not too surprising. What was surprising was in the best power category and Ibandel Isabel didn’t get the nod in the Southern League. He lost out to Luis Robert (White Sox), who has plenty of power on his own.

    There is one category where the Reds stood out: Best Reliever. Three different Reds prospects got the nod in the league. Only in Triple-A’s International League did Cincinnati not have the top reliever in a league in which they play. In the Southern League Joel Kuhnel got the nod. He’s been promoted out of the league at this point and is now in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats. He’s posted a 2.10 ERA on the year in 51.1 innings with 37 hits allowed, 15 walks (3 intentional), and he’s struck out 49 batters.

    Ryan Nutof got the nod for best reliever in the Florida State League. Like Joel Kuhnel, Nutof was promoted out of the league. He’s now in Double-A with the Lookouts. In his time with Daytona he posted a 2.70 ERA in 30.0 innings with eight walks and 37 strikeouts. Connor Bennett also grabbed the top spot among relievers in the Midwest League. He was also promoted and is no longer with the Dayton Dragons. Between his time in Dayton and Daytona he’s got a 2.31 ERA in 50.2 innings with 19 walks and 76 strikeouts.

    Among the top defensive players there were also three different Reds players at the top of their position in the leagues they participated in. Tyler Stephenson got the nod for the best defensive catcher in the Double-A Southern League. Jonathan India was recognized for the best defensive third baseman in the Florida State League. And Brian O’Grady got the nod at first base in the International League. Aristides Aquino didn’t get the not as best defensive outfielder in the International League, but he did get the nod as the top outfield arm in the league.

    Those are just the Baseball America rankings, though. But how do things stack up within the Cincinnati Reds organization? Here’s how I would rate things as they stand right now in the categories presented by Baseball America. Please note that I’m only listing players with prospect eligibility.

    Cincinnati Reds Best Tools List

    Batting Prospect: Jonathan India

    Power: Ibandel Isabel

    Strikezone Judgement: Tyler Stephenson

    Best Baserunner: Michael Siani

    Fastest Baserunner: Andy Sugilio

    Starting Pitching Prospect: Hunter Greene

    Relief Prospect: Joel Kuhnel

    Fastball: Hunter Greene/Joel Kuhnel

    Breaking Ball: Nick Lodolo/Ryan Hendrix

    Control: Nick Lodolo

    Defensive Infielder: Jose Garcia

    Defensive Outfielder: Michael Siani

    Infield Arm: Jose Garcia

    Outfield Arm: Aristides Aquino

    Most Exciting Player: Jose Siri

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

    Related Posts

    20 Responses

      1. Doug- what are the reports on Stephenson’s defense? Obviously being named best in his league is great, but how do we translate that? Is he the best of a bad bunch in AA or on track to be at least an average defender when he reaches Cincy

        Defense always seemed to be the concern with Stephenson, really exciting news if he can pair his offense with great defense

    3. You ranked Siani over Siri for defensive outfielder.

      That says a lot about how good Siani is. It seems like every other day you report on a highlight reel catch from Michael—so it makes sense.

      1. Here’s my take on the Siani/Siri defense: If Siri played at 100% all of the time, he’s the better defender. But he doesn’t. Both are very good out there, though.

      2. Doug- do you think the Reds see Siani as a higher ceiling than Trammell? Or at least a safer bet to be solid?

        If he pans out better than Trammell, we would have some happy fans when looking back at the Bauer trade.

      3. From watching them both in Dayton, Siri makes the same plays with a lot less effort so they do not look as spectacular.

        1. Some people have the ability to make the impossible look easy and others the ability to make the mundane look impossible. I, on the other hand have always had the uncanny ability to make the impossible look, well, impossible.

    4. Small sample size: Trammel’s stats with SD: 7 games, 31 Abs
      214/290/321/612.

      In Chatanooga:
      236/249/336/686

      Some trend there. Upside it’s cool but results matters. Will see.

        1. Coming out of a hitter’s league, might be good. At the least, it’s good to be opportunistic. Or lucky …

    5. I think Siri hustles , he just likes to hot dog sometimes and by doing so comes up short occasionally. He also has a short fuse.

      1. When he wants to hustle, he will. And it’s game changing. But he’s definitely not giving it his all out there at times.

      2. Sugilio faster baserunner than Siri, I can see the rationale coming out. But is Siri still the fastest runner, period?

        1. No. Andy Sugilio is the fastest player in the organization…. he’s the fastest guy I’ve timed not named Billy Hamilton in the last 6-7 years.

    6. Enjoyed this thread, especially Doug’s part. Hope there are more like it.

    7. Jose Garcia over Alf rod for defensive infielder? Thought Alfredo was suppose to be a special kind of infielder on defense.

      1. Things changed. But Jose Garcia’s a pretty darn good fielder, too, and his arm is plus plus.

        1. That’s some of that there fuzzy math isn’t it? Plus Plus.. Plus plus plus equals…uhmmm…errr… *Placing call to my first grade teacher..

    Comments are closed.