Cincinnati Reds Top Prospect Report – Alex Blandino

How did the Cincinnati Reds’ top prospects do during the 2016 season?

While the Cincinnati Reds struggled to a 68-94 record, there is plenty of reason for hope in the future. The team is loaded with talented prospects across all of their minor-league teams, and many of those players started off with promising starts in their careers.

Let’s take a look at how the Reds’ top 10 prospects (per MLB Pipeline at the start of the season) performed as we head into the offseason

Alex Blandino (2B/3B)

2016 Stats (Double-A):

Pensacola: .232/.333/.337, 18 2B, 8 HR, 37 RBI, 55 BB, 114 K, 14 SB

 Blandino looks like so many young batters.  He has a low batting average with good OBP and too many strikeouts.  He is one on the several young batters in the Reds’ system that is a year or two away from making it to Cincinnati.

More from Reds Prospects

• Reds: Underdog hurler James Marinan flashing brilliance at High-A Dayton
• Reds: Joe Boyle has an absurd strikeout-rate after punching out 10 batters
• Reds prospect: Rece Hinds finding his power after prolonged stint on IL
• Reds prospects: Bryce Bonnin excelling at every minor league level
• 3 Reds prospects who should not be added when rosters expand

Blandino is another Reds’ prospect that has made the trip to the Arizona Fall League.  He spent the 2015 AFL season spending time focusing on second and first defensively, not too differently from what Brandon Dixon is doing this AFL season.  Blandino’s background is that of a third baseman.  The Cincinnati Reds are stacking a lot of right-handed, questionable defensive infielders in their minor league system.

Alex Blandino is leading a band of Cincinnati Reds’ draftees that are developing more quickly than the front office was planning on initially.

The Reds drafted Blandino in the first round of the 2014 draft in the first round.  He has played only two complete seasons in the minors.  There has already been talk of Blandino getting the call up in 2017.  After a bit of a  power outage in 2016 that may not happen.

Some of the other players drafted around Blandino are already in the big leagues.  Kyle Schwarber of the World Series winning Chicago Cubs, Trea Turner of the National League East Champion Washington Nationals, and Michael Conforto of the New York Mets have all already contributed to their teams’ successes.  Blandino was on that track until a down 2016 kept him in Pensacola all year.

Blandino is a bit different from the other players though.  He came to the draft as a shortstop who shifted to third base in 2015.  Then he began working on second in the Arizona Fall League.

Next: Reds prospect report - Tyler Stephenson

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2016 was really Blandino’s first season away from shortstop.  He split his time between short, second, and third.  It appears that he may have taken the changes in his defensive positions with him to the plate.