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3 Reds prospects who could make the leap from High-A to the major leagues in 2024

Which Reds prospects might follow in Noelvi Marte's footsteps?

By Drew Koch |
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Cincinnati Reds hats and gloves. / Rob Carr/GettyImages
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At this time last year, infielder Noelvi Marte was wrapping up his minor league campaign with High-A Dayton. A year later, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect is enjoying the spoils of his hard work after making his major league debut this season.

The Dayton Dragons just wrapped up their third consecutive winning season on Sunday, and the crop of young Reds prospects will head into the offseason with players like Marte, Carson Spiers, and Lyon Richardson as examples of players who made the leap from High-A to the majors in just one season.

The Reds farm system is loaded with talent, and many of their top young players are part of the Dragons roster. Which three Cincinnati Reds prospects could make the jump from High-A to The Show in 2024?

1. Reds prospect Zach Maxwell could leap from High-A to the major leagues in 2024.

Zach Maxwell is a name that most Cincinnati Reds fans haven't heard, but you will. The 6-foot-6 hurler out of Georgia Tech is a hard-throwing right-hander that could very well rocket up through the Reds farm system next season.

Maxwell has a heater that sits in the upper-90s and can touch 101 mph. Much like former Reds prospect Joe Boyle, Maxwell has an imposing persence on the mound and a fastball that he can blow by the opposition.

But, just like the aforementioned Boyle, Maxwell has some command issues. While his 36.6-percent strikeout at High-A Dayton is very impressive, Maxwell's 13.4-percent walk-rate is just as concerning. According to FanGraphs, Maxwell was striking out 14.38 batters per nine innings pitched, but he was also walking 5.28.

But Zach Maxwell was just drafted a year ago. The right-hander was selected in Round 6 of the 2022 MLB Draft and recorded multiple punch outs in all but one of the 13 appearances he made at High-A this season. If Maxwell continues to work on his control and command, the 22-year-old could make it to the big leagues in 2024.

2. Reds prospect Jose Acuña could leap from High-A to the major leagues in 2024.

Jose Acuña was part of the trade last summer that sent Tyler Naquin to the New York Mets. Acuña, who may need to be added to the Cincinnati Reds 40-man roster this offseason in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, put together a fine season.

Acuña, after speding the second-half of the 2022 season at Low-A Daytona, spent his entire 2023 campaign at High-A Dayton. The right-hander posted a 3.93 ERA with 100 strikeouts in just over 100 innings pitched.

While the ERA this season was not nearly as impressive as it was in 2022, Acuña was still able to hold his own following the jump in competition. Acuña's walk-rate moved up slightly, but was still just over 10-percent.

Unfortunately, the strikeout numbers did see a downturn, and that's definitely something that the Reds coaching staff and talent evaluators will want to see improve over the offseason and heading into next year.

After spending all season at High-A, it's very likely that Jose Acuña will start his 2024 campaign at Double-A Chattanooga. Both Andrew Abbott and Connor Phillips began the year in the Southern League this season and turned that into a major league debut. Perhaps Acuña will do the same next season.

3. Reds prospect Jacob Heatherly could leap from High-A to the major leagues in 2024.

Jacob Heatherly has had quite the rise and fall during his time in the Cincinnati Reds organization. A former third-round pick of the Reds all the way back in 2017, injuries have derailed what could have been a very quick ascension through the team's farm system.

But, as is the case in life, sometimes things don't go as planned. Injuries limited Heatherly to just four starts in 2019, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown minor league baseball in 2020. Heatherly was then saddled with another injury in 2021 after just 8.2 innings pitched in the Arizona Complex League.

It's been a long road back, but Jacob Heatherly finally seems poised to make his major league dreams come true. After obliterating the competition at Low-A Daytona earlier this season, Heatherly was bumped up to High-A Dayton where he made seven relief appearances.

Heatherly was originally drafted as a starter, but after dealing with so much adversity, the Reds now seem ready to send him out as a reliever. In 13 innings with the Dayton Dragons this season, Heatherly owned a 31-percent strikeout-rate and 2.70 ERA according to FanGraphs.

Left-handed relievers are always in high demand, and while it's unlikely that Cincinnati will protect Heatherly from the Rule 5 Draft, the fact that the 25-year-old has never pitched above A-Ball will likely keep him as part of the Reds organization.

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