Cincinnati Reds links - Taylor Trammell, Hunter Greene own Futures Game

The list of players who have taken home the Larry Doby Award is rather damn impressive. Given annually to the MVP of the MLB Futures Game, the award has been given to some of the most impressive prospects that have made their way through the MiLB pipeline in recent memory, with the likes of Kyle Schwarber, Yoan Moncada, Jose Reyes, and Grady Sizemore all having laid claim to it in their time.

It’s that last name I listed that has me particularly dreaming today. Sizemore, of course, broke in with Cleveland as a 21 year old in 2004, shortly after winning the Larry Doby Award in 2003. The sweet-swinging lefty immediately established himself as one of the best all-around players in the game, a dynamo of a CF who won both Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger. He could crush the ball, as his 33 dinger season in 2008 showed. He could own the bases, as his 38 steals that year show, too. Just as importantly, he owned the strike zone, walking 101 times in 2007 while getting over 700 PA atop Cleveland’s batting order, creating roughly a dream prototype of a what a leadoff hitter could be.

It’s precisely that kind of elite upside that I continue to see in Cincinnati Reds prospect Taylor Trammell, who took home the Larry Doby Award yesterday after his dinger and triple. The lefty OF possesses elite on-base ability, ample speed, solid defensive instincts, and - as yesterday showed - increasing in-game power, and what he could do both in the Cincinnati OF and atop their lineup in the coming years simply has me drooling. Baseball America’s JJ Cooper sure seems like a fan, too.

Of course, we Red Reporters are hardly the only ones drooling. Trammell checked in at #28 on BA’s most recent Top 100 overall prospect list update, is ranked #34 at MLB.com, and his outing yesterday certainly won’t do anything but support his rise up those rankings as the year moves on. Considering he and Nick Senzel were the two headliners of that 2016 Reds draft class, we might well look back on that June as quite a defining moment in the overall direction of this franchise.

Trammell wasn’t the only Reds prospect on display in the Futures Game, though. Hunter Greene took the mound and absolutely wowed with his ability as just an 18 year old, as our own Grimey profiled in detail earlier this morning. 103 mph, man. 103 mph. Safe to say, I’m not sure there’s another franchise out there who boasts a more balanced, talented Top 3 prospects than the Reds do at the moment.

In other news, closer Raisel Iglesias has made it known that he’d rather not be traded by the Reds now or ever, probably because he’s busy watching how robust the farm system has become alongside the burgeoning success at the big league level. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon has the details.

Scott Schebler exited Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals after slamming into the wall making a great catch in RF. X-rays came back negative on his right shoulder, and he’s supposed to be a-ok after the well-timed All Star break, fortunately.

Over at The Enquirer, John Fay profiles All Star 3B Eugenio Suarez, particularly his journey from glove-first shortstop of the Detroit Tigers to the pitch-mauling rhinocersaurus rex he has become in the Cincinnati lineup. Suarez’s 27th birthday is this Wednesday, and the Reds have him tied up all the way through 2025 if they so choose. This is all incredibly good and fine.

If you missed it last week, Doug Gray updated his Top 25 prospects in the Cincinnati system to both include this year’s draftees and to weed out those prospects that have graduated to the big leagues. It’s a pretty danged fun read simply because the Reds have some pretty danged entertaining - and talented - minor leaguers at the moment.

Finally, Jose Peraza whacked out a merciless 11 hits against the Cardinals over the weekend, and Redleg Nation’s Chad Dotson took a closer look at the Cincinnati shortstop’s overall body of work from the last calendar year. He’s looking more and more the part of a quality, everyday regular, and paired with Schebler’s performance this year and the solid depth that Brandon Dixon has provided, that Todd Frazier trade is looking better by the minute.