The Cincinnati Reds 2015 draft is signed, sealed and delivered. The date in which players were eligible to sign has passed. Everyone seems to have taken the field, but some guys are playing more than others. Everyone from the 2015 draft is on the Arizona League Reds or the Billings Mustangs. Let’s take a quick look at how everyone is performing. Below I’ve broken things down by pitchers and hitters to make things a bit easier. (Stats do not include Monday night performances)
Hitters
| Round | Name | Age | PA | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| 1 | Tyler Stephenson | 18 | 107 | 10 | 16 | .281 | .355 | .365 |
| 3 | Blake Trahan | 21 | 145 | 13 | 12 | .336 | .403 | .438 |
| 4 | Miles Gordon | 17 | 39 | 1 | 10 | .263 | .282 | .342 |
| 8 | Mitch Piatnik | 20 | 84 | 4 | 18 | .247 | .280 | .312 |
| 10 | Zach Shields | 22 | 90 | 3 | 14 | .222 | .256 | .259 |
| 11 | Brantley Bell | 20 | 123 | 8 | 20 | .336 | .393 | .482 |
| 15 | Blake Butler | 21 | 79 | 3 | 16 | .365 | .392 | .568 |
| 17 | J.D. Salmon-Williams | 18 | 6 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| 21 | Satchel McElroy | 18 | 54 | 3 | 12 | .280 | .333 | .320 |
| 23 | Ed Charlton | 22 | 98 | 9 | 23 | .276 | .357 | .494 |
| 25 | James Vasquez | 22 | 85 | 5 | 14 | .307 | .341 | .560 |
Top Hitting Performance
You could go in a few different directions here with depending on exactly what it was that you wanted to weigh more importantly. For me, the best performance so far has to go to Blake Butler. He’s old for the Arizona League, but we aren’t talking about the best prospect, just the best performance and he’s hitting .365. He’s got a .568 slugging percentage.
In Billings Blake Trahan is out to a strong start. He’s walked more than he’s struck out while hitting .336. The power hasn’t really shown up yet, and it might not show up much, but the rest of his game has been strong.
Pitchers
| Round | Name | Age | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K |
| 2 | Tony Santillan | 18 | 7.71 | 4.2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 2 | Tanner Rainey | 22 | 6.04 | 22.1 | 23 | 1 | 11 | 20 |
| 5 | Ian Kahaloa | 17 | 5.06 | 5.1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Jimmy Herget | 21 | 5.11 | 12.1 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| 7 | Jordan Ramsey | 22 | 8.44 | 16.0 | 19 | 3 | 13 | 16 |
| 9 | Sarkis Ohanian | 21 | 3.32 | 19.0 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 26 |
| 12 | Alexis Diaz | 18 | 2.70 | 3.1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | Andrew Jordan | 17 | 0.00 | 6.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 14 | Austin Orewiler | 22 | 6.94 | 11.2 | 14 | 4 | 11 | 8 |
| 16 | Jake Johnson | 22 | 4.91 | 14.2 | 21 | 1 | 10 | 9 |
| 18 | Isaac Anesty | 18 | 9.00 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 20 | Rock Rucker | 22 | 10.80 | 1.2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 34 | Connor Bennett | 18 | 2.45 | 3.2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Top Pitching Performance
There haven’t been a lot of strong performances from the draft picks thus far, but a lot of guys have had very limited action too. Sarkis Ohanian has to be the front runner for top performance. He’s thrown the second most innings of all of the draft picks and has more strikeouts than walks to go along with a 3.32 ERA for the Billings Mustangs.
Andrew Jordan is out to a great start for the AZL Reds. The 17-year-old had not allowed a run in 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts. He also hasn’t walked a batter and has given up just four hits.
Speaking of prospects, both old and new (3 so far), if we think we can win with this core group how about flipping a couple of minor league pitchers and one of our minor league OFs to the Phillies for Hamels? We’d still off-load Leake and hopefully Byrd before the deadline for whatever we could get but this would make us competitive next year.
The reason they are looking to trade guys is because they are trying to save mHe is also signed for the next couple of seasons. This would be a very bad move.
I would look again at some of the prospects. There are a number plahiyers in the Reds minor league system who are not striking out much more than they walk and therefore have OBPs above 300, The pitchers on the roster are very young and they would have been in AAA this season except for the need. They will hopefully improve. Remember that early in his career Randy Johnson led the majors in walks.
I remember that post
Well said then. Worth repeating now.
The Reds success with rookies in 1960’s and 1970’s (building the Big Red Machine) was hardly a coincidence. They learned to hit (or pitch) at all levels of Reds MiLB system according to the Reds way of doing things.
Just saw MLB.com’s updated Top 30 prospects. Interesting assortment, sure could use another high-ceiling bat.
Top 10:
Winker
Robert Stephenson
Garrett
Tyler Stephenson
Travieso
Blandino
Blake Trahan
Cody Reed
Tony Santillan
Ervin
With Nick Howard, Jonathon Crawford, and Y-Rod immediately following.
Do yourself a favor, never look at that list again. It’s really bad.
Nick Howard walked 50 batters in 38 innings. Jonathon Crawford has thrown 6 innings. Both are on the disabled list with shoulder injuries and Crawford is done for the year. They rank 11th and 12th. No. Just no.
Those numbers are gross.
Doug, are you doing a new ranking of your own post-Trade Deadline? (assuming they make a few more significant trades)
I will probably wait until the offseason – I’d like to get a chance to see everyone in person – and I will be in Florida from August 1-11th for Daytona/Pensacola, meaning I won’t see Louisville again until at least the middle of August and I want to get eyes on the new guys. Second hand reports are nice, but seeing guys in person is something I’d rather have at my disposal if possible when ranking guys.