3 Reds prospects who could make the leap from High-A to the major 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.