Reds fans might want to familiarize themselves with this Yankees prospect

Where there's smoke, there's fire. There's a lot of smoke surrounding the New York Yankees and their pursuit of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo. The Yankees, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, are seen as the favorites to land the Reds right-hander.

Whoever is able make the deal for Castillo is going to have to give up quite the return. A lot of pundits throughout the industry assume it's going to take up to three of a team's Top 25 prospects in order to secure La Piedra's services.

The Yankees have a lot of Top 100 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Shortstop prospect Anthony Vople might be the only player in New York's farm system that could be deemed off limits. But Reds Country might want to familiarize themselves with the Yankees other shortstop prospect.

Reds fans should familiarize themselves with Yankees prospect Oswald Peraza.

I know, the last player named Peraza didn't work out too well at shortstop. Of course that's a reference to former Cincinnati Reds infielder Jose Peraza. But New York Yankees shortstop Oswald Peraza could be on his way to the Queen City as part of a potential trade for Luis Castillo.

While it could be a bit odd to see Cincinnati add yet another shortstop prospect to their already overflowing well of infielders, Peraza's talents might be too good to pass up. MLB Pipeline sees Peraza as the 38th-best prospect throughout Major League Baseball.

Peraza is a fringe five-tool player whose power lags behind the rest of his skills, but with 12 home runs at Triple-A this season, he may be putting those concerns to bed. Peraza is hitting .255/.326/.436 at Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre and the 22-year-old has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to July.

Over his last 14 games, Peraza is hitting .316 with a .561 slugging percentage and a wRC+ of 152 according to FanGraphs. Peraza has eight extra base hits during that span including three round trippers. Peraza has shown off his speed as well with seven of his 23 stolen bases coming since July 2nd.

The question on the minds of Reds fans would of course be where Peraza would line up defensively. With Kyle Farmer under team control through next season and Jose Barrero sitting at Triple-A, is it wise to add another shortstop to the mix?

There's also Elly De La Cruz, who was just recently promoted to Double-A Chattanooga, and last year's first-round pick Matt McLain. If the Cincinnati Reds were to acquire Oswald Peraza at this year's deadline, some position changes or future trades might be in order.