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Jags, as I'm gonna call him because I'm dumb, finally got himself onto the ranking board a #14. I'm sure he's totes excited. I kinda am, even if he may be listed a little low. Hopefully, you're all excited to see what Eric Jagielo can do with a full healthy season. He was killing it last year until a knee injury derailed his year. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Reds start him at AAA to see how he handles advanced pitching and to push him a bit. That would be super cool, especially if he knocks the cover off the ball.
Sal Romano, RHP, 22
Highest 2015 Level: AA (Pensacola)
Eye-Poppingest Fact: 3.46 ERA in 104 A+ innings, 2.9 BB/9
Most Worrisome Fact: 1.3 WHIP, 6.8 K/9
Alias(es): Sweaty Sal, Slippy Sal, Used Car Salesman Sal, Romano Cheese
Sal Romano has been a pitcher slowly making his way up the prospect rankings year to year and is either over valued or under valued each year, in my opinion. Last year, Sal made it AA at the age of 21 years old. He did horrible, and that's why I didn't add his numbers to most worrisome fact. They weren't just worrisome, they were scary bad. He did put up a respectable year in Daytona, though.
Sal has a fastball that sit in the low to mid 90's, and he can control it well. He tries to limit walks and keep batters off the bases, and that has led to some relative success so far in his career. His one big draw back is he hasn't show much of a strikeout pitch in his short career.
Tyler Mahle, 21, RHP
Highest 2015 Level: A (Dayton)
Eye-Poppingest Fact: 2.43 ERA, 1.5 BB/9, 8.0 K/9, 5.40 K/BB in 152 innings pitched
Most Worrisome Fact: Average stuff
Alias(es): Darth Mahle, Poppin' Mahle, Good Golly Miss Mahle
I'm super biased, but I think Tyler Mahle is one of the more interesting and exciting pitching prospects in this system once you get out of the Stephenson, Garrett, Reed group. He's 21 years old and just finished A ball in Dayton. And when I say he just finished it, I mean he completely dominated it. He destroyed it. Mahle is a former 7th round pick that has picked apart every single level of baseball he has played in, and he's done it with a very average arm.
Mahle is considered to be an already well polished prospect and intelligent guy. He doesn't throw hard (sitting in the very low 90's) and has an average slider, curve, and change-up. However, he can throw all those pitches for strikes and does it often. Plus, he has some kick ass nicknames. Also, how many A ball pitchers do you see throwing 150 innings? It's because he was so incredibly dominant..
Scott Schebler, 25, LF/RF
Highest 2015 Level: MLB (Dodgers)
Eye-Poppingest Fact: Power, speed, and willing to take some walks. .285 ISO in 2013, .276 ISO in 2014
Most Worrisome Fact: .169 ISO in 2015. Strikes out s a lot.
Alias(es): Ned Schneibly, Scotty Doesn't Know Schebler, Schebler, I Hardly Knew Her
Scott Schebler was the second piece received in the Todd Frazier trade. He had been one of the best power bats in the Dodger's system for quite some time and received a cup of coffee in Los Angeles in 2015. Pre-2015, Schebler was rocketing up the Dodger's prospect lists, showing good power, a willingness to take a free pass, and stealing some bases. Scouts think his power comes more from his strength and less from his bat speed, which is worrisome.
He didn't do so hot in 2015 with lower power numbers, a down tick in BABIP, which all led to lower batting averages and slugging percentages. One thing Schebler has done every year is lower his strikeout rates while still walking around a 7 or 8 percent. Schebler will look to compete for the starting left fielder's job in Cincytown in Spring Training, and his power bat could look really good in GABP.
Blake Trahan, 22, SS
Highest 2015 Level: A (Dayton)
Eye-Poppingest Fact: 25 BB/24 K in Billings. Very good defense and speed.
Most Worrisome Fact: Power. Looked bad in 35 at bats in Dayton.
Alias(es): Blake Tree-hee-han, Kinder Kid
Blake Trahan was the Reds third round selection out of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He's a high floor player who played with Alex Bregman on the US National teams. He's a very good defensive player at shortstop, with some speed, and he knows how to use the bat. Trahan doesn't have the highest of ceilings. He cruised through Billings and got a short cup of coffee in Dayton where he didn't play very well. Third round picks aren't usually something to get super excited about, but Trahan looks like he can play a little bit of baseball and many scouts liked this pick by the Reds.
Gavin LaValley, 21, 3B/1B
Highest 2015 Level: A (Dayton)
Eye-Poppingest Fact: .343 OBP, 29 doubles in 530 plate appearances
Most Worrisome Fact: 4 HR and 114 strikeouts. Can he play 3B?
Alias(es): Deep in LaValley, LaValley of the Shadow of Death, LaValley Girl
Gavin LaValley fared pretty dang well in his first taste of pro ball in 2014. Scouts have said he has some of the best bat speed they've witnessed. He's also a pretty big guy, though, he's lost a tremendous amount of weight since being drafted. With the high potential LaValley has shown, the Reds decided to give him a full season at Dayton, and he held his weight. There was no pun intended with that one.
LaValley put up a respectable .267/.343/.358. He struck out a bit much, probably had too many errors, and obviously didn't hit for the power we all expected. Though, he did hit 29 doubles, which is pretty decent. You know who else hit for low power his first season in Dayton? Joey Votto. He hit one home run. Joey hit 19 dingers the next year, and the rest is beautiful history. Gavin LaValley is basically Joey Votto, and I'm just gonna leave it at that.