Cincinnati Reds enjoy Southern League championship in Pensacola

Despite having several players from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on the Cincinnati Reds, the team still won a share of the Southern League championship.

With two of their pitching aces playing for the Cincinnati Reds, the Blue Wahoos still held off the Biloxi Shockers for a South Division title.  The Blue Wahoos won the first half division title and the season long title.  The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp won the second half title.

At the end of the MLB season five pitchers that played significant amounts of time in Pensacola were in Cincinnati plus three more than spent time with the Blue Wahoos on rehab assigments.  Luis Castillo, Rookie Davis, Ariel Hernandez, Tyler Mahle, Deck McGuire all spent time in Pensacola this season.  They combined for 58 starts and an additional 25 relief appearances.  Then they became part of the Reds’ youth movement.

Now Castillo and Mahle appear to have cemented their spots in the big league rotation next season.  Hernandez trends as a future closer, but needs some more seasoning.  Davis and McGuire both need some more time in the minors before a big league status is established.

In addition to those promoted, Homer Bailey, Austin Brice, and Brandon Finnegan all spent rehab time with the Blue Wahoos.  Jimmy Herget was the closer for the Blue Wahoos the whole season.  Keury Mella, who came over with Adam Duvall in the Mike Leake deal, made 26 starts in a difficult season for the youngster.

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The Cincinnati Reds also had good offensive prospects on the Pensacola Blue Wahoos roster this season.

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The highest profile player on the Blue Wahoos the first half of the season was 2016 draft’s second pick overall, Nick Senzel.  In 57 games, Senzel batted .340 with an OBP of .413.  He’s also second on the team with 10 home runs despite the fact that he hasn’t played there since mid-season.

The true offenseive leader for Pensacola is Aristides Aquino.  He only batted .216 this season, but he hit 17 home runs.  He also led the team with 56 RBIs.

Another high profile member of the team down the stretch was Arismendy Alcantara.  He only batted .164 in 17 games after the Reds demoted him.  

He primarily helped out at second base.

The nice surprise on the team was Gabriel Guerrero, who the Reds claimed from the Arizona Diamondbacks during the off-season.  He played center field everyday and batted .273 with an OBP of .320.  He had 137 against 103 strikeouts, so he still needs to work on swinging and missing.

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Many of these players will be somewhere else next season.  Those that return hope to earn a promotion in short order.  The Reds have hopes for all of these prospects.