4 promising Reds prospects who've failed to live up to their lofty draft status

3. Reds prospect Jose Torres has not lived up to his draft status

Jose Torres isn't a name a lot of Reds fans think about when discussions about the team's unique infield depth bubble up to the surface. Usually, in terms of prospects, names like Carlos Jorge, Edwin Arroyo, and Collier are usually the first ones to come off the tongue.

But before any of those young prospects were even on the radar, Torres was taken in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Coming out of North Carolina State, Torres was always a glove-first prospect, but his minor league numbers are troubling.

Torres hit just .187/.284/.293 last season at Double-A Chattanooga. The 24-year-old only had seven miscues at shortstop in 2023 and posted a respectable .975 fielding percentage, but Torres will never make it to The Show if he doesn't consistently find ways to get on base.

Torres is going to have to learn to be less agressive at the plate. A bit of a free-swinger, Torres struck out 36.4-percent of the time last season. That's far too much for a player like Torres who doesn't possess much power. Torres walked a little less than 10-percent of his plate appearances in 2023.

Jose Torres' glove will play in the big leagues, but unless he's able to improve in the batters' box, the young infielder could go the way of Jose Barrero and Alfredo Rodriguez. Barrero is on thin ice heading into spring camp and Rodriguez was released a couple years ago.