2018 Red Reporter Community Prospect Rankings: Rank The Best

Here we go again. A New Year, a new you, and a new prospect list for us to make. As we start to gear up for Spring Training, it’s time to have dumb arguments about some young dudes and who we think will be the next great star. We’ll be looking forward to all those hot takes. The Reds have one of the deepest and most talented farm systems in all of baseball after years of futility, trades, and good drafts. Pick your #1 prospect in the poll below, and you’ll be picking again each day of the work week until we fill out a list of the Top 30 players.

Nick Senzel, 3B/2B, 22

Highest 2017 Level: AA (Pensacola BlueWahoos)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: 2nd overall pick in 2016, .413 OBP

in 235 PA at AA, .905 OPS across A+ and AA.

Most Worrisome Fact: He can’t get to Cincinnati soon enough?

Alias(es): Senzinnati, Nick Senzational, Saint Nick, The Future

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The Reds selected Nick Senzel with the 2nd overall pick in the 2016 Draft, presumably because he was considered not only one of the best bats in the draft, but because he was also considered one of the most Major League ready prospects in the draft.

Just over one year later, the former Tennessee prospect hasn’t disappointed, and his play over his first two professional seasons has done nothing to discredit the Reds for selecting him so highly. Senzel’s had nearly 800 plate appearances as a pro now, and in that time has racked up a slash line of .315/.393/.514. Maybe more importantly for the 2018 Reds, he’s most certainly going to be starting the season at AAA Louisville and, assuming he continues doing what he’s been doing, could be a Redleg by the summer.

This Spring, Senzel will find himself on his first big league Spring Training squad this season, and at this point the only major question regarding one of MLB’s top 10 prospects is what position will he find himself in? Drafted as a 3B, Senzel is (hopefully) blocked there for the foreseeable future by the 2017 breakout Eugenio Suarez. Senzel played 2B at Tennessee, and has been working out, well, basically everywhere this offseason in preparation for the upcoming season.

The Reds have some positional logjams at all the places Senzel projects to play. If he holds up his end of the bargain, he’ll be playing in front of Cincinnati crowds sooner rather than later, regardless.

Hunter Greene, RHP/DH (maybe??), 18

Highest 2017 Level: Rookie League (Billings Mustangs)

Eye-Poppingest Fact: This dude could literally be one of the best ever.

Most Worrisome Fact: He pitched 4.1 IP of Rookie ball at 17 years old, so, really I don’t care what happened; He’s may not reach the Reds rotation before Joey Votto is collecting Social Security.

Alias(es): John Deere Greene, Hunter “I Hardly Know Her!” Greene,

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The Reds selected Hunter Greene with, you guessed it, the 2nd overall pick in the draft this past June. He was viewed as not only the most talented player in the draft, but maybe even a generational talent out of high school in California.

We didn’t see a lot of Hunter Greene in 2017; he was shut down in late April in anticipation for the draft, and then didn’t actually sign his contract with the Reds until minutes before the deadline in July. He received a signing-pool bonus record breaking amount of $7.23 million for his troubles. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said this of the then 17 year old prep star: “If there was ever a young man who could live up to a Sports Illustrated cover at age 17, I think Hunter is that young man.”

The 6’ 4” Greene is super athletic and profiled as a 1st rounder in the 2017 draft had he decided to apply his trade at shortstop. The Reds selected him at the top of the draft for his pitching abilities, however, with a fastball that tops out at 102 MPH with little effort. The Reds showed willingness to let Greene swing the bat at the beginning of his professional debut. All he did was hit a two run, standup triple in his fourth professional at-bat, playing as a DH. It’s not super likely that the Reds continue the experiment of letting the former two-way star play both ways, and shortly after the season Greene even admitted that he’s more accustomed and confident with his pitching routine than trying to do both.

Still, it’s no doubt that the Reds were able to nab a potentially franchise changing talent at the top of the 2017 draft. The only thing we have to judge Hunter Greene on right now is potential, but that potential has no ceiling. The sky is the limit for the 18 year old.

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

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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.