Cincinnati Reds’ other elite prospect, Taylor Trammell, not as close to majors as the top pick

The Cincinnati Reds have a pair of elite prospects inTaylor Trammell and Nick Senzel from the 2016 draft.

The Cincinnati Reds drafted Nick Senzel and Taylor Trammell with their first two picks in last year’s draft.  Senzel was taken second overall behind Mickey Moniak and Trammell was taken with the top competitive balance lottery pick.  Since then their careers have taken somewhat divergent paths.

Following the draft, Senzel spent most of his season in Single-A Dayton demonstrating why he was selected so high in the draft.  He batted .319 with an OBP of .415 over 58 games.  He also only struck out 49 times despite an OPS of .982.

Senzel’s defense was also decent.  However, he did have a lower range factor and fielding percentage than Reds’ third baseman Eugenio Suarez.  He needs to be better than the incumbent to make it to Cincinnati.

Trammell, meanwhile, didn’t make it out of rookie ball.  In all fairness, Senzel played in college and the Reds gave Trammell a large signing bonus not to go to Georgia Tech.  Having said that, the hope was that he could get to A-ball more quickly.

Trammell did have a great rookie season, though,  He batted .303 with a .374 OBP.  He also had 24 steals in just 61 games.

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Taylor Trammell is the Cincinnati Reds’ fifth best prospect, but unlike Nick Senzel, won’t see Cincinnati in 2017 or 2018.

Trammell, much like former Red Brandon Phillips, was a high school star in Georgia.  Trammell played both baseball and football.  While that helps him excel on the athletic endeavors like stealing bases and fielding, it doesn’t help him as much with the mental approach like pitch selection.

The Reds’ top catching prospect, Tyler Stephenson, was also drafted away from Georgia Tech, and is having offensive developmental issues of his own.  After having a good first year in 2015, Stephenson had trouble in Dayton playing with Senzel.  The question is whether Trammell can avoid this dip.

Trammell should start the season in Dayton.  He needs to do well to move up to Pensacola sometime this year.  They may even have him stop over in Daytona Beach.

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Senzel could make it to the majors by September as he is expected to start the season in Double-A.  Trammell isn’t expected to be in Cincinnati before 2018.  That may be a good thing as they need him to be a center fielder, if they want to move off of Billy Hamilton as the defensive specialist Hamilton’s OBP may turn him into sometime soon.