2 Reds prospects who could lose their 40-man roster spots and 2 prospects who could replace them

Reds prospect Michael Siani could lose his spot on the 40-man roster.

While Ricky Karcher is giving the Cincinnati Reds no good reasons to keep the right-hander on the 40-man roster, the story is a little different when it comes to the defensive-minded Michael Siani.

The Reds added Siani to the 40-man roster late last season after Nick Senzel landed on the IL with a broken toe. The team would have added Siani to the roster a few months later anyway in order to protect the former fourth-round pick from the Rule 5 Draft.

Siani is a tough one because he's arguably the best defensive outfielder in the Reds organization. Siani has blazing speed as well, a tool that could be quite useful with the bigger bases this season.

But here's the problem, it's hard for Siani to hit his weight. This season, it's even difficult for the Pennsylvania native to reach base safely. Last season, while spending time with both Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville, Siani posted a .345 on-base percentage and a walk-rate of 11.4-percent according to FanGraphs.

Through the first month of the minor league season, Michael Siani has an adequate walk-rate, but he's striking out far too much. In order to Siani to be a productive major league player, he needs to have an OPS above .700 in the minor leagues. That's only happened once during his minor league career, and it was last season with the Chattanooga Lookouts.