Junior Caminero’s All-Star rise reveals why Reds cling to prospects so tightly

When it comes to prospects, the Cincinnati Reds hold on tightly and don’t let go. For example, 17 of the Reds’ top 30 prospects as ranked by MLB.com in 2021 still play in the organization. Similarly, of the 22 picks the Reds made in the 2021 MLB Draft, three have left organized baseball and just one — third-round pick Jose Torres, who was a Rule 5 draftee — plays for another organization now.

In other words, Cincinnati has given these players five years of development time and has eschewed trades and other roster moves. We don’t have to look too far to recognize that such a long-term strategy may well be worth it.

When the Cleveland Guardians signed Junior Caminero as a free agent three days before his 16th birthday in 2019, the slugger didn’t even make the write-up. He was just another face among the 33 players scooped up by the team that year.

The Reds tend to cling to prospects, but the Guardians may be proving that impulse correct

He didn’t feature in any top prospects lists or garner much notice when he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league pitcher Tobias Myers. Frustratingly for Cleveland, Myers lasted just a few months before being picked up by the San Francisco Giants, and Caminero has become one of the loudest bats in the league.

Caminero clearly had raw talent, although pundits wondered “whether he’ll continue to make enough contact to get to that power as he’s challenged by higher-level pitching, better stuff and more complex sequencing,” according to MLB.com prior to the 2022 season. Now, the righty is smashing balls left and right, including at the Home Run Derby this year. For a team that always seems to make things work on a tight budget, Camerino’s emergence couldn't have worked out better.

The Reds are hoping to find some gems of their own among their horde of prospects. Leo Balcazar, for example, has been in the Reds’ system since 2021, but his steady rise has now placed him among the top middle infield prospects in the system. Arnaldo Lantigua, just 19 years old, has some serious pop even if he’s years away from Cincinnati.

The Reds have seen the benefit of taking their time. Elly De La Cruz was and is a tremendous talent, and he still took almost five years between his signing and his big-league debut. (That, though, was partially due to the COVID pandemic.)

Prospects need time to develop, and a small-market team like the Reds need as many homegrown players as they can get. So a slow approach, like the one used by the Rays for Caminero, may be the best option for Cincinnati.

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