Cincinnati Reds AFL prospects managed by dad of one of them

Cincinnati Reds prospect Brantley Bell played for his father, Jay, in Scottsdale.

The Cincinnati Reds sent Brantley Bell and seven other prospects to the Arizona Fall League.  Bell has one major difference.  His father, Jay, was the team manager of the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Jay Bell played for five teams during his MLB career.  In his first three stops with the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Kansas City Royals, Jay was known as a glove first shortstop.  With the Arizona Diamondbacks Jay became a home run hitting second baseman.

Despite the respect of his peers and his record of playing on winning ball clubs, Jay only made the All-Star team twice, once as a Pirate and once as a Diamondback.  Jay may be most noted for winning the Gold Glove at shortstop in the National League, stopping thirteen wins in a row by Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith.  He also won the World Series in Arizona.

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Jay is a career .265 hitter with an OBP of .343.  He led the NL in sacrifice bunts in back to back years in 1990 and 1991 as the shortstop for the Pirates.  His best season was 1993 when he was an All-Star, won the Gold Glove and was also the Silver Slugger for NL shortstops.

Brantley Bell hopes to take after his father as a prospect for the Cincinnati Reds.

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Brantley has become a glove first second/third baseman.  With Taylor Sparks and Nick Senzel, among others, between him and Cincinnati Brantley needs to show flexibility or better offense.  Doing both wouldn’t hurt.

In Arizona Brantley batted .215 with an OBP of .239.  He struck out 25 times and walked twice.  Brantley hit no homers and just drove in six over sixteen games.

In Low-A to start the season Brantley batted .240 in 63 games, hitting a pair of homers.  He struck out 72 times against 23 walks.

Brantley had an OBP of .309 with a slugging percentage of .332.

In High-A to close the season Brantley did about the same.  He batted .223 with an OBP of .276.  He hit one home run and struck out 51 times.

Brantley’s career has been too rough from the plate.  He has little to no power and strikes out too much.  Whether or not he can keep chasing his dream is up to his output when 2018 ends.

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It’s also good that Jay and Brantley had a chance to spend some time together as player-manager this off-season.  The Reds’ organization has buried Brantley and he isn’t too much higher on other teams’ lists, either.  His glove is keeping him in the game when he plays elite defense, for now.