Leo Balcazar is giving the Reds hope and a new headache at the same time

By now, it's well known that the Cincinnati Reds love collecting toolsy shortstop prospects almost as much as they love drafting college pitchers in the first round. By this point, the Reds have collected impressive young shortstops at virtually every level of the minor leagues. The one who gets most attention is No. 3 prospect Edwin Arroyo, who has taken his lumps thus far in the majors but hasn't let it affect his outlook.

Meanwhile, the one with the loudest tools is Tyson Lewis, who brings with him blazing speed and a physique that looks as if it's been chiseled out of marble like a statue of Hercules. Then there's the buzz generated by last year's first-round pick, Steele Hall, who is just 18 years old but projects to have every tool in the toolbox.

Lost in the sauce is the guy in the middle. While Lewis is in Dayton and Hall is working in the Arizona Complex League, comfortably sitting in Chattanooga is Leo Balcazar, the club's No. 15 prospect.

Balcazar signed for just $100,000 out of Venezuela, but has consistently outperformed more highly-touted prospects throughout his journey. The 22-year-old got off to a blistering start this season, getting his second crack at Double-A.

As the season has progressed, though, he's cooled, and some trends have emerged. He's already cracked nine homers, putting him on track to blow past his previous career-high of 12 set last year between action at Dayton and Chattanooga. However, with that has come an uptick in strikeouts, bringing back to the forefront a problem that plagued him in the lower minors.

Leo Balcazar's all-or-nothing performance could put pressure on Reds' other shortstops

While he's not striking out at an egregious rate, coming in a 20.8%, it's a significant uptick from the 13.4% rate he posted last season. As a result of swinging for the fences more, Balcazar is making less contact and has seen his batting average fall from .263 a year ago to .243 this season. With that, his slugging percentage has basically remained stagnant despite the influx of long balls. The result is a 98 wRC+ versus last year's mark of 106.

The problem is that Balcazar still doesn't produce enough power to justify this approach, and at five-foot-10, 190 pounds, it's unlikely he'll grow into much more pop. Instead, what he needs to do is balance the scales by picking his spots to try and hit homers, while shortening up and focusing on contact the majority of the time.

If he can't do that, he'll stall out and fail to reach his ceiling. That will put more pressure on Arroyo, Lewis, and Hall. That could be a dicey situation.

Arroyo tore it up at Louisville, slashing .323/.383/.562 with 11 homers prior to getting called up when Elly De La Cruz got hurt. That means it's far too early to write him off after a somewhat slow big-league start. Still, whether his future is as an impact middle infielder or a utility man type remains to be seen.

As for Lewis, he's struggled to translate his loud tools into consistent production, with strikeouts being a major concern. The 20-year-old is K'ing at a 34.2% clip in Daytona, while slashing just .228/.294/.344.

Finally, Hall is showing out down in the Arizona Complex League. He's been very impressive, but obviously, a lot can happen as he navigates his way through the minor leagues.

The long and the short of it is that Cincinnati is banking on at least one of these prospects to pan out and become either De La Cruz's eventual double-play partner or his future heir apparent. If Balcazar can't iron things out, it will fall on one of the other three to prove themselves; otherwise, the Reds will end up with despite all of the significant investments they've made in the future of the position.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow