Reds finalize trade deadline deal with Red Sox by acquiring Cincinnati native Nick Northcut

Much like the Cincinnati Reds did with the Seattle Mariners earlier this season, the club finally finalized the trade with the Boston Red Sox that included a player to be named later.

Earlier this year, Cincinnati acquired pitcher Connor Phillips from Seattle as the PTBNL in the trade that sent Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the Mariners. The player to be named later in the Reds deal with the Red Sox is a local product.

The Cincinnati Reds acquired infielder Nick Northcut from the Boston Red Sox, a move that completes the August 1st trade that shipped outfielder Tommy Pham to Beantown.

Who is the Reds newest prospect Nick Northcut?

Nick Northcut, who was born in Cincinnati and went to high school at William Mason in Mason, Ohio, was an 11th-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox back in 2018. That's the same draft that produced current prospects Mike Siani and Lyon Richardson, as well as last year's NL Rookie of the Year Jonathan India.

Northcut has played just over 100 games in the minor leagues this season and has split his time between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. In a little less than 400 at-bats, Northcut has posted a .767 OPS while crushing 30 home runs.

The issue with Northcut, as is the case with so many power-hitting prospects in today's game, is the high number of strikeouts. While Northcut may have a 60-plus grade on the scouting scale in terms of power, he'd probably have a 20 for strikeouts if such as grading system existed. Northcut, according to FanGraphs, has a 35.3% strikeout-rate.

Nick Northcut has played at both first and third base this season. If the 23-year-old can maintain that power and lower his strikeout-rate, there's a chance that the Cincinnati native could make his major league dream come true and play for his hometown team.