Now that the first 6 rounds of the draft are in the books, I'm comfortable putting out the next edition. Projected starting levels for draftees are in parenthesees. The only exception I make for ranking rookie leaguers is first round picks (Stephenson and Travieso). The others are listed in "Keep An Eye On". Without further ado...
GRADE A
1. Billy Hamilton SS/CF? A+ - Now a Top 25 prospect in the game. Big questions are when he'll get promoted and if/when he'll move to CF.
GRADE B
2. Daniel Corcino RHP AA - Still the crown jewel arm in the system.
3. Kyle Lotzkar RHP AA - If he can continue to stay healthy, he has at least MOR big league potential.
4. Tony Cingrani LHP AA - Great first start in Pensacola. Hopefully he can keep it up.
5. Robert Stephenson RHP R - Curious to see what he can do with the Billings season starting. Would like to see him get some innings in Dayton this season.
6. Nick Travieso RHP (R) - Big upside, long term project. Will be fun to watch him progress with Stephenson and hopefully Garrett.
7. Donald Lutz LF A+ - Will hopefully have newfound competition for biggest bat in the system from Waldrop and Winker. Would like to see him in AA soon.
GRADE C
8. Henry Rodriguez 3B AA - I'd like to see him in AAA when he comes back from the DL. Should get a long look in ST next year.
9. DiDi Gregorius SS AA - He needs to start hitting better to maintain his top prospect status.
10. David Vidal 3B AA - Struggled out of the gate since getting promoted to AA.
ON THE RADAR - Honorable Mention/Just Missed
Kyle Waldrop OF A - Leads current pack of OF in low minors that includes Rodriguez and Duran.
Ryan LaMarre CF AA - Looks like a 4th OF to me.
Yorman Rodriguez OF A+ - Still needs tools to translate to performance.
JC Sulbaran RHP AA - Ditto
Jacob Johnson RHP A - Currently the most interesting full season pitcher outside of AA.
Jeff Gelalich OF (A) - Should start in Dayton. Interested to see if he can outperform his LaMarre comp.
Daniel Langfield RHP (A) - Could he be the right-handed Cingrani or Joseph? Has a better FB than both.
KEEP AN EYE ON (too early to tell) - Rookie Leaguers to Watch
Jesse Winker OF - Best power bat in rookie league? Could be cleanup hitting LF...in 5 years.
Tanner Rahier SS/3B - Best (Reds) position player in rookie league...maybe even in all lower minors?
Gabriel Rosa 3B - Should challenge Rahier at every step along the way
Amir Garrett LHP - Will hopefully form a three-headed monster with Stephenson and Travieso, although he is probably farthest away of all.
Ismael Guillon LHP - Hopefully this is the year he gets back on track.
One interesting trend that is emerging is that the Reds' system seems to be bifurcated into two tranches or waves of prospects arriving at different points: the estimated 2014 arrivals and the long-term guys (estimated 2017/2018). In each group you have five pitchers and five position players who should progress and arrive in similar time frames.
In the first group, you have all the AA arms (Corcino, Lotzkar, Cingrani, Sulbaran and Joseph) as well as position players like Hamilton, Lutz, Rodriguez, Gregorius and LaMarre- all of which should be big league ready by 2014 if not earlier.
In the second group, you have also have five pitchers (Stephenson, Travieso, Garrett, Guillon, and Johnson) as well as five position players (Rodriguez, Waldrop, Winker, Rahier and Rosa) who all likely won't be ready until 2017 at the earliest.
There are a couple guys who don't necessarily fit into either category at this point- including Vidal and draftees Gelalich and Langfield, but of course it remains to be seen what these guys can do once they sign. All of the other players on this list seem to fall into one of the two other categories. Just an interesting note.
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