Cincinnati Reds: 3 prospects who could debut before end of 2020 season

2. R-Y-A-N spells relief for Reds bullpen.

Ryan Hendrix has some electric stuff. It’s unfortunate that the coronavirus pandemic shutdown minor league baseball, as we’d have likely seen Hendrix make his major league debut before September. There’s still a possibility that Hendrix may stay at Prasco Park through the end of the season, but the Reds should see what they’ve got in the right-hander.

As we touched on earlier, the Cincinnati Reds bullpen has been atrocious. The collective ERA of 5.08 for the Cincinnati bullpen ranks 27th in all of Major League Baseball, and only National League team trails the Reds; the Colorado Rockies. This bullpen needs a boost.

While Dick Williams and Nick Krall swung a trade to bring Archie Bradley to Cincinnati, one player isn’t going to make a difference. We’ve already seen the front office drop Pedro Strop, Brooks Raley and Cody Reed, They’ve also brought along a cadre of veterans to no avail. Nate Jones and Tyler Thornburg have not been overly impressive thus far.

The 25-year-old Hendrix was a fifth-round pick of the Reds back in 2016 and has yet to play above Double-A. Both catching prospects Tyler Stephenson and Chris Okey were quoted by Baseball America, saying that Hendrix has a “backwards” curveball.

Unlike the aforementioned Tony Santillan, Ryan Hendrix was drafted as a reliever and he’s expect to stay a reliever. Given the current state of the Cincinnati bullpen, it seems unwise to not give Hendrix a shot toward the end of the 2020 season.