2018 Red Reporter Community Prospect Rankings: Hunter Greene is your #2 prospect!

For the second straight day, Red Reporters voted overwhelmingly to decide who would be next on our Community Prospect Rankings. This time, you selected 2017’s 2nd overall pick Hunter Greene. Although Greene has only thrown 4.1 innings in his time at the professional level, the hype surrounding him is enough to have him near the top of the organizational prospect rankings. With Greene coming off the board, another pitcher jumps on so vote early and vote often, Reds fans.

Taylor Trammell, OF, 20

Highest 2017 Level: A (Dayton Dragons)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: .450 SLG with 13 HR, 10 triples while also stealing 41 bases and being the legitimate future at CF.

Most Worrisome Fact: 21.5% K rate. Really, this is the most nitpicky I could get. He also walked at a 12.4% rate, which is really good.

Alias(es): TT, Tay Tram, Tramm-a-lamma-ding-dong, Tinker Taylor Trammell Spy

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Taylor Trammell came to the Reds in 2016 with the 35th overall pick, a competitive balance pick, out of Georgia. Trammell was thought of at the time as a Top 20 pick. So, having him slide to the Reds at #35 was pretty huge, and most of us that were paying attention to the draft at the time were over joyed. The young man has an amazingly high ceiling, but was thought of at the time as being a high athletic, but very raw pick. Think of a Billy Hamilton type with more power.

Taylor got off to a hot debut in Billings, beating up on mostly high school kids, but it was 2017, in Dayton, where Trammell really lit it up. The knock about him being raw? It was crap. Trammell showed one of the more advanced approaches in the Minor Leagues in 2017, and he was only 19 years old. Right now he’s one of the more intriguing prospects in all of baseball. If Jose Siri didn’t have a freakish season, more people would have been focusing on Trammell.

What sets Trammell apart from the rest, and has him rising high on these lists, is being able to do everything well. It also has to do with him being willing to take a walk, with the noted 12.4% walk percentage above. He also showed pretty good power with a .169, nice, ISO. He hit 13 dingers, 10 triples, 24 walks, and stole 41 bases while only being caught 12 times. Trammell would be the #1 prospect in many systems, but with the ridiculous talent the Reds’ system holds Trammell will only be in the Top 3.

Tyler Mahle, RHP, 23

Highest 2017 Level: MLB (Cincinnati Reds)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: Mahle needed just 89 pitches to sit the Mobile Bay Bears in order last year while with AA Pensacola. All of them. The Perfect Game was actually Mahle’s second career no-hitter, as he logged one in 2016 with Daytona.

Most Worrisome Fact: His fastball isn’t exactly blazing, as it averaged just 92.9 mph in his stint with the Reds last year; a career 8.3 K/9 through his 5-year MiLB career is solid, yet not overwhelming.

Alias(es): Poppin’, Flogging, Mahle-able, Tinker Taylor Tyler Mahle

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Mahle is a classic example of a pitcher who doesn’t just throw, he pitches, and it’s that master-of-craft ability that has seen him crack many Top 100 overall prospect lists as he’s risen through the minors. A 2.85 career ERA in 558.0 MiLB innings is impressive in itself, but a minuscule WHIP of 1.10 and rock solid 4.48 K/BB in that time stand out as much, if not moreso.

While he’s got the ability to run a fastball up to 96-97 mph at times, that’s not at all what he uses to get batters out. Rather, he pounds the strike zone relentlessly, and his 1.9 career BB/9 in those MiLB innings exemplifies it.

The former 7th round pick cracked the big leagues for the first time in 2017, yet holds still holds his rookie status. And while his initial outings with the Reds didn’t flash the same kind of peripherals we’ve seen from him in the minors, he once again managed to keep runs off the board - something the litany of young pitching peers of his failed at across miserably, by comparison.

Considering he got just 59.1 innings of time at AAA Louisville before his late-season call up by Cincinnati, there’s a chance he opens the year with the Bats in 2018. However, if he shows in Spring Training the kind of arsenal and effectiveness he’s flashed throughout his career, a spot in the Opening Day rotation is by no means out of the question.

Jesse Winker, OF, 24

Highest 2017 Level: MLB (Cincinnati Reds)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: A .904 OPS and 133 OPS+ in 47 games with the Reds, featuring his patented on-base ability (.375) and the return of his power stroke.

Most Worrisome Fact: His defense is average, at best. Also, his power nearly evaporated completely at the upper levels of the minors, though the hope is that multiple wrist injuries were the culprit - and are now fully healed.

Alias(es): Stinky Winky, Uncle Jesse, Winker Taylor Soldier Spy

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If it seems like Jesse Winker has been at or near the top of this list for a generation, you aren’t wrong. Since being a supplemental 1st round pick out of high school in 2012, Winker has long been well regarded in prospect circles thanks to his gifted offensive game.

Heck, MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo once picked Winker to lead all of Minor League Baseball in hitting back in 2015, and we all nodded that it was completely possible.

Winker peaked as the #26 overall prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline prior to that 2015 season, and was a universal Top 100 prospect by them, Baseball Prospectus, and Baseball America for several years running, but when his power disappeared, so too did his prospect status despite him still possessing several other, valuable traits.

If the car crash and multiple wrist injuries he’s fought through over the last few years were both the reason for his power evaporating and are now fully healed, though, we’re talking about a sweet-swinging lefty with elite on-base skills who once won the Class A Dinger Derby title while an All Star with the Dayton Dragons. And that, folks, is exactly the kind of corner OF the Reds could use in their everyday lineup for at least the next six years.

Antonio Santillan, RHP, 20

Highest 2017 Level: A (Dayton Dragons)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: 9.6 career K/9.

Most Worrisome Fact: 4.4 career BB/9.

Alias(es): Santigold, Guns Up Tony.

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The Reds selected Santillan in the 2nd round of the 2015 draft out of Seguin, TX. While the right-hander has been known as a fireballer that will blow people away, he struggled with command during his first two minor league seasons. His first full season in MiLB showed why the Reds thought so highly of him back in 2015, as he put up his best season of his young career with Low-A Dayton. He improved his command and posted a career-best 3.9 BB/9 in 2017 while still striking out 9 per 9 innings. His best start in 2017 came back on May 8, where he dominated Cedar Rapids by striking out 10 over 6 innings while giving up only 1 run and no walks.

He will be 21 for most of the 2018 season, so he has plenty of time to continue to work out his control issues. Hopefully he uses his strong 2017 to continue to improve in 2018. Santillan will most likely start the 2018 season in Daytona.