Every May, typically, MLB Pipeline, which is the most acknowledged Prospect rating system due to its backing by Major League Baseball, will release a list of top 100 prospects for all of baseball. It seems like the Cincinnati Reds always have at least a few top 100 prospects in there. As the subtitle reads, this will be the 4th year in a row that they have more than 4 players in the top 100, even after graduating 5 top 100 prospects LAST YEAR! I wouldn’t read too far into this stuff, it’s just fun write-up.
The MLB Pipeline has a lot of garbage ranked in the top 20, Pete Crow-Armstrong is still ranked 15th overall in the game and has 2 major league stints now showing nothing other than ability to go get a ball in the OF. The Redsox have 2 top 20 prospects, one that is struggling to keep an .700 OPS & one that is glove first. The point here, don’t take it too seriously.
Reds prospects getting added to the top 100
INF Cam Collier
Collier, who was drafted with the Cincinnati Reds first pick in the 2022 draft at 18th overall is now back in the top 100 range, and it’s much deserved. He’s ranked 95th/100. The kid spent a whole lot of time in the offseason working on adding lift to his batted balls and boy has it paid off. He’s been HOT. He has 7 homers already on the year paired with an .804 OPS & he’s one of the youngest in the league, still. He’s been better in A+ than he was in A. I fully expect him to cool off a little bit, however, and we would like to see him start working counts a bit more. He’s swinging a lot, rightfully so, to input all his work he put in over winter into the games.
Reds prospects falling out of the top 100
RHP Chase Petty
I gotta be honest folks, I don’t think Chase will last outside of the top 100 very long. I think his problems in AA so far have been a direct reflection of change and trying to add power to his pitches again, and I’m not worried. I still think Nick Krall should’ve got way more out of Sonny Gray than just Chase Petty back, but back to Chase’s 2024… His K% is still where it needs to be, and he isn’t walking guys, he’s almost…throwing too many strikes. He isn’t missing bats. That will happen again. AA is always a big challenge for a lot of guys, usually bats, but some pitchers struggle, too.
RHP Connor Phillips
It’s time to start worrying about Connor Phillips. Not because he fell out of the top 100, but because he’s back to not throwing enough strikes to be taken serious as a starting pitcher. In 7 starts at AAA Louisville, he currently has an 8.28 ERA in 29.1 IP has walked 23 batters, and only struckout 22. He’s sitting with a 1.98 WHIP, and opponents are hitting .310 off of him. That’s almost .80 points better than his 2023 season in AAA… He has really, really, really struggled bad. So bad, that they should go ahead and start the conversation about turning him into a reliever. There’s a whole lot of Lucas Sims in him, we just have to hope he can throw more strikes.
The full list of Cincinnati Reds top prospects in the top 100
- 25th Overall: RHP Rhett Lowder
- 30th Overall: INF Noelvi Marte
- 55th Overall: INF Edwin Arroyo
- 95th Overall: INF Cam Collier
It’s worth nothing here to close out, the Cincinnati Reds will be adding another top 100 prospect in July with the #2 overall pick. It’s a given that they’ll get either Charlie Condon or Travis Bazzana – both are 65 grade prospects on day 1 before they even take a professional AB, and some evaluators have gone as far as saying top 25 prospects in all of the game. So by July, as long as no one gets traded, the Reds will have 5 top 100 prospects again.
The Reds graduated Andrew Abbott, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Matt McLain, Elly de La Cruz, & Spencer Steer just LAST year, so let that sink in… the farm system is still top 10 in the game (and honestly, I think it’s well underrated, but that’s an article for another time)
