A look back at the turnover within the Cincinnati Reds farm.
We ran the 2023 Community Prospect Rankings all the way up to spot #25, whereas this year we called it quits after just #20. That’s mostly due to my 8-month old daughter teething and treating sleep as the bane of her existence these days, and for that I apologize.
That’s not to say we can’t still compare last year’s rankings to the ones we completed this week, however!
Despite a pretty epic amount of turnover, the Cincinnati Reds still boast one of the best farm systems in baseball, the kind of thing that – when paired with their current crop of sophomores – should give us all a pile of optimism for the coming years. Whether or not that materializes in 2024, well, we shall see, but it’s hard not to think the franchise is in a good spot going forward.
Here’s the list you voted on just last winter – the 2023 Top 25:
- Elly De La Cruz, SS
- Noelvi Marte, SS/3B
- Cam Collier, 3B
- Edwin Arroyo, SS
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 3B/1B
- Matt McLain, SS
- Chase Petty, RHP
- Spencer Steer, IF
- Brandon Williamson, LHP
- Andrew Abbott, LHP
- Connor Phillips, RHP
- Sal Stewart, 3B
- Mike Siani, CF
- Joe Boyle, RHP
- Ricardo Cabrera, SS
- Rece Hinds, OF
- Jay Allen II, CF
- Carlos Jorge, IF
- Lyon Richardson, RHP
- Victor Acosta, SS
- Austin Hendrick, OF
- Levi Stoudt, RHP
- Christian Roa, RHP
- Daniel Vellojin, C
- Ariel Almonte, OF
Spots number 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 graduated from this list with their MLB service time last year. Spots number 2, 11, 13, 19, and 22 saw time at the big league level with the Reds, while spot number 14 saw time at the big league level with Oakland after being traded for Sam Moll mid-year. As a result, there was bound to be ample turnover on the upcoming rankings, though it’s just now occurring to me that none of the guys listed in spots 20-25 made it onto our Top 20 list this year.
Maybe we should’ve just kept it to a Top 20 last year anyway!
Anyway, here’s the 2024 edition of the Top 20 for comparison’s sake.
- Noelvi Marte, SS/3B
- Rhett Lowder, RHP
- Chase Petty, RHP
- Edwin Arroyo, SS
- Connor Phillips, RHP
- Cam Collier, 3B
- Sal Stewart, 3B
- Ricardo Cabrera, SS
- Carlos Jorge, 2B/CF
- Alfredo Duno, C
- Hector Rodriguez, 2B/CF
- Ty Floyd, RHP
- Rece Hinds, OF
- Blake Dunn, OF
- Lyon Richardson, RHP
- Julian Aguiar, RHP
- Leonardo Balcazar, SS
- Sheng-En Lin, SS/CF/RHP (?!)
- Cole Schoenwetter, RHP
- Jacob Hurtubise, OF