Cincinnati Reds’ top prospect Nick Senzel represents team in Futures Game

The Cincinnati Reds have two representatives from their minor league system in the Futures Game.

The Cincinnati Reds sent top prospect Nick Senzel and 17th ranked prospect Jimmy Herget to the Futures Game in Miami, FL, ahead of the MLB All-Star Game.  Senzel was penciled in to start, while Herget is not going to start.  Both are assigned to the American team.

Senzel is currently playing at Pensacola for the Reds’ Double-A affiliate.  He started the season Daytona Beach, but he moved up after 62 games.  At this rate, he could still see the majors this year.

Most noticeably, Senzel’s numbers are nearly identical for him at both levels this year.  He batted .305 with an OPS of .847 for Daytona Beach.  Since his call up to Double-A Senzel is batting .308 with an OPS of .841.

Even his OBP and slugging percentage are both very similar.  In Pensacola Senzel is currently getting on base at a .379 rate with a slugging percentage of .462.  In high A-ball Senzel had a .371 OBP and a slugging percentage of .476.

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Senzel’s primary weakness so far is his lack of home run power.  Senzel only has a combined 6 home runs over 77 games.  That equates to less than 15 over the course of a full season.

Jimmy Herget has been moving up the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league system as a closer and hopes to stay there.

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Herget started the season in Pensacola, collecting 16 saves before moving up to Louisville.  Over 29 2/4 innings, Herget struck out 44 batters.  He also only surrendered 1 home run over his 24 appearances.

Since he moved up to Louisville, Herget has done even better.  His ERA is a miniscule 1.80 over 10 innings.  He has collected 4 saves with a sub-1.00 WHIP of 0.70.

Herget projects as a likely set-up man at the MLB level.

With Ariel Hernandez looking like he may be the next closer in the system, Herget can slide nicely in front of him.  Herget, though, has shown the ability to get batters out with the game on the line.

He was a starter at the University of South Florida, but the Reds moved Herget into the bullpen after drafting him in the sixth round of the 2015 draft.  After only two minor league seasons, Herget looks ready to fight with Austin Brice and Barrett Astin in next year’s Cincinnati bullpen.

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Both Herget and Senzel are close to ready to joining the big league team.  Herget is probably closer, but Senzel’s talent is obvious to everyone around him.  However, long it takes the duo to get to Cincinnati, there is no doubt that they have arrived.