The Reds may be better at finding talent than developing it

With three small-market teams in the League Championship Series, the heat is about to be turned up on the Cincinnati Reds' front office and ownership. Reds fans are watching the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians, and Tampa Bay Rays make a lot of noise in the postseason, and they're surely thinking to themselves, "Why not us?"

Interestingly enough, three key contributors — one from each team — used to play for the Reds. Jake Bauers (2022) with the Brewers, Nathaniel Lowe (2026) with the Guardians, and Ryan Vilade (2025) with the Rays.

None of the aforementioned trio were superstars; Bauers and Vilade were once prominent prospects and Lowe was a former Gold Glove award-winner. But all three failed to reach their ceiling and were cast-offs, multiple times, even. The Brewers are Bauers' seventh organization, Lowe played for three different teams in 2025, and Vilade has been DFA'd twice and has signed multiple minor-league deals.

In other words, these players aren't top-tier free agents or key pieces of a blockbuster trade. They represent savvy, shrewd, low-risk/ high-reward moves that the Brewers, Guardians, and Rays have made over the past couple of years — something all three franchises do quite well.

If the Reds hope to compete with these successful small-market teams, they need to develop a similar strategy. But what if they already have? Based on the simple fact that Bauers, Lowe, and Vilade have all come through the Reds' organization shows that (perhaps) Cincinnati's biggest problem hasn't been evaluating and finding talent, but rather developing the talent once it arrives.

The Reds have a promising talent pipeline that needs one big fix

To be fair, this is not a Reds-only problem. As we just illustrated, the players in question were part of multiple organizations before finding success during the postseason. Nevertheless, Cincinnati needs to find ways to maximize that inexpensive talent rather than allow it to be recycled through another organization. Lowe and Vilade could've been part of the Reds roster this season, but both players were traded away over the last year for cash considerations and an 18-year prospect.

The same development issue arises when discussing players like Edwin Arroyo, Matt McLain, and Noelvi Marte, and previously with Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Nick Senzel, and Will Benson. The Reds have some success stories (Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart), but have come up short on multiple occasions.

Not of all of this lies with one member of the coaching staff; it goes deeper than that. One might suggest that players like De La Cruz and Stewart have enough God-given ability to rise above mediocre development, while players like Marte, Arroyo, and Encarnacion-Strand needed a more in-depth approach.

On the plus-side, it would seem that perhaps Cincinnati's player acquisitions are not as underwhelming as they seem. But an inability to develop talent once those players are part of the organization isn't something that can be fixed overnight.

Nick Krall and Brad Meador spoke about auditing every aspect of the Reds' baseball operations after the season. Let's hope they come to the same conclusion and make some changes as a result.

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