Community Prospect Rankings loom!
‘tis the season!
After several banner years down on the farm, calendar year 2024 was a doozy for the Cincinnati Reds. The 80-game PED suspension handed down to Noelvi Marte really pulled the rug out from under the guy most - including this community - considered the team’s #1 overall prospect, while a season-ending injury to Edwin Arroyo soon followed.
Pair that with Brandon Williamson’s mostly lost year and the epic yips experienced by Connor Phillips, and the farm-stocking return from the deals with the Seattle Mariners suddenly looked sour. Then, Spencer Steer saw his BABIP plummet, Christian Encarnacion-Strand got hurt, and Chase Petty stumbled a bit out of the gate, and the farm-stocking returns from the deals with the Minnesota Twins no longer looked like it had rescued the Reds farm.
Not all of those guys were prospects, of course, but they all represent the young wave that’s been put together by this front office to thrive together in a Reds renaissance not experienced here in a decade and a half. And when that much bad luck happens at once, it’s enough to make you wonder if there’s anything else out there to bail it out.
Fortunately, the Reds farm is still robust. Rhett Lowder emerged from it just last year to stake his claim to a rotation spot, while Sal Stewart simply refused to be retired by most every pitcher he faced in a breakout 2024. Arroyo is back healthy, Petty finished the season damn strong, and we’ve not even yet mentioned the team’s #1 draftee from last summer in Chase Burns.
The crop for evaluation in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings is vastly different than it’s been the last few years due to the crazy number of graduations we’ve seen to the big leagues. Many new faces, same CPR, though.
We’ll be getting the voting started at the end of this week, so I’ve linked a few resources for your perusal below:
MLB Pipeline’s list of the Reds Top Prospects
The Updated 2025 Cincinnati Reds Top Prospects from RedsMinorLeagues.com
Baseball America’s Cincinnati Reds 2025 Top MLB Prospects
Do your research. Question everything. Make your own rankings. Then, show up here and vote for the top prospects in the Cincinnati Reds system!