Cincinnati Reds: Three former prospects ranked among Top 100 in MLB

The Cincinnati Reds have made several trades recently and have seen some top talent leave the organization. Three former players rank among the Top 100 in Major League Baseball.

In order to improve the Cincinnati Reds roster over the past year, GM Nick Krall and President of Baseball Operations Dick Williams have made a lot of trades. Most of the deals have involved some of the team’s top minor league talent. The Reds have two pitchers among the Top 100 prospects in all of baseball, but three former Reds farmhands made the list as well.

MLB Pipeline put out their Top 100 prospects list yesterday, and it was littered with former Cincinnati Reds. Tops among them was former shortstop prospect Jeter Downs who is ranked No. 44 according to MLB Pipeline. Downs was part of the deal that brought Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and Matt Kemp to the Queen City.

Downs is No. 8 among shortstop prospects and expected to make his big league debut ion 2021. Downs split last season between Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa, slashing .276/.362/.526. With the void at shortstop, the Reds may be wishing they’d kept Downs in the fold.

Another former Reds prospect who made the Top 100, according to MLB Pipeline, is outfielder Taylor Trammell. Trammell, the Reds top prospect last season after the promotion of Nick Senzel, was dealt to San Diego. Trammell’s inclusion was part of a three-way deal that brought Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati.

By all accounts, the former first-round pick had a down year. Trammell hit just .234 between Double-A Chattanooga and Double-A Amarillo. The 22-year-old had a collective OPS of just .689, the lowest of his career. Time will tell, but perhaps the Reds made a wise decision selling high on Trammell.

Finally, former second-round pick Josiah Gray may be the best prospect among those the Reds dealt this past offseason. Gray will enter 2020 as the No. 67 overall prospect in all of baseball, but his ceiling could be higher than both Downs and Trammell.

Gray played at three different levels of minor league ball in 2019, racking up 147 strikeouts in 130 innings of work. The right-hander has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and generates a lot of swings and misses. Gray, along with Downs and former pitcher Homer Bailey, was part of the deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December.

While a lot of fans will bemoan the trades this past season that saw the Cincinnati Reds lose three of their top prospects, the front office also pulled off a deal that brought Sonny Gray to the Queen City by sending Shed Long to the New York Yankees. Bauer will also be a big part of the Reds quest for a division title as well.