Four Reds among Baseball Prospectus’ Top 101 ranked prospects

Prospect ranking season barreled into another stop on Monday, as Baseball Prospectus revealed their 2018 Top 101 list. Found within that list were four members of the Cincinnati Reds farm, highlighted of course by uberprospect Nick Senzel. Whereas as many as five prospects have highlighted the lists from various other prominent national prospect ranking sources, only four Reds-to-be cracked this particular list, though the names that made it will certainly be familiar to you.

Senzel, of course, led the pack, checking in at #7 on B-Pro’s list. The #2 overall draftee from 2016 features an elite bat, plus speed, and the kind of defensive versatility roster-makers drool over, and after his rock solid performances in A+ Daytona and AA Pensacola, it’s likely he’ll get his initial call-up to the big leagues at some point in 2018.

Behind Senzel is Hunter Greene, the #2 overall pick from the 2017 MLB Draft. The fireballing righty barely played for Billings in the Pioneer League in 2017, but his 102+ mph fastball and projectability has him on the list at #39. That, I’d wager, will be about as low as you’ll ever see him on these rankings.

Taylor Trammell follows at #59 overall, as the talented young Georgian’s stellar 2017 season continues to have him on the radar of prospect wonks nationwide. His elite ability on the bases and in the outfield paired with improving power and an already impressive ability to take a walk has him as an ideal leadoff hitter down the road, something we’ve been eyeing particularly for Cincinnati for quite some time. Given that the 35th overall pick from 2016 just turned 19 years old in September, and there’s an easy case to be made that only a handful of other prospects in all of baseball have a higher ceiling than Trammell, and watching him continue to develop in Daytona in 2018 should be high on your lists.

Rounding out the Reds on this list is Jesse Winker, who returns to B-Pro’s rankings after dropping off them completely prior to 2017. His power-surge in his initial big-league call-up was probably what tipped the scales in his favor, since his ability to get on-base had never been in question while his power at his upper minors stops largely evaporated. After checking in at #44 prior to 2015 and #50 prior to 2016, Winker slides into the rankings this year at #91. Speaking of leadoff hitters, there’s a very, very large contingent out there - me included - who hopes Winker gets the lion’s share of PAs from that spot at the big league level beginning in 2018.

Tyler Mahle, for some reason, didn’t quite crack these particular rankings despite landing in the Top 100 of both Baseball America and MLB.com. My guess is that he’ll take that personally, up his fastball to 104 mph, and fail to allow a single hit through May 27th in retaliation.

*In case you missed clicking on the embedded tweet above, you can find the entire Top 101 list here.