Cincinnati Reds Preliminary Prospect List

by John Sickels on Dec 20, 2025 7:00 AM EST

First run....

Cincinnati Reds            38 players

Yonder Alonso              1B-OF
Junior Arias               SS
Brad Boxberger             RHP
Aroldis Chapman            LHP
Drew Cisco                 RHP
Daniel Corcino             RHP
Jonathan Correa            RHP
Zack Cozart                SS
Danny Dorn                 OF
Juan Duran                 OF
Juan Francisco             3B
Todd Frazier               OF-UT
Yasmani Grandal            C
Brodie Greene              2B
Didi Gregorius             SS
Ismael Guillon             LHP
Billy Hamilton             2B-SS
Donnie Joseph              LHP
Ryan LaMarre               OF
Sam LeCure                 RHP
Devin Lohman               SS
Kyle Lotzkar               RHP
Devin Mesoraco             C
Wes Mugarian               RHP
Kris Negron                SS
Cody Puckett               2B
Tanner Robles              LHP
Henry Rodriguez            2B
Yorman Rodriguez           OF
David Sappelt              OF
Mark Serrano               RHP
Neftali Soto               1B
Juan Carlos Sulbaran       RHP
Daryl Thompson             RHP
Ronald Torreyes            2B
Chris Valaikia             INF
David Vidal                3B
Kyle Waldrop               OF

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Comments

I'd drop Corcino

and add Matt Klinker.

by Havok1517 on Dec 20, 2025 9:19 AM EST reply actions

disagree

I think Corcino is a pretty interesting arm.

by aCone419 on Dec 20, 2025 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

agreed

I think Klinker could prove useful in his career (to someone, at least), but the upside is just not there.

by pack_fan on Dec 20, 2025 12:23 PM EST up reply actions

I'd keep both.

Klinker may not wow anyone with his pure stuff, but he could carve himself out a career as another Joe Blanton type of #4-#5 starter. Great make-up and competitor.

by wanderinredsfan on Dec 20, 2025 1:18 PM EST up reply actions

Well...

Klinker is not on the initial list and I had suggest a drop, so I suggested the diminutive Corcino who I don’t think will be a MLB player in the long-term.

by Havok1517 on Dec 20, 2025 6:19 PM EST up reply actions

I know his draft position (32nd) doesn't really lend itself to prospect status

but a guy I’m going to be keeping my eye on is Jaren Matthews.

The Red Sox drafted him out of HS in the 17th round, but he chose to go to college. His college career sucked, but he showed good power in his limited pro debut, and clearly there are some tools there.

Like I said, I don’t think he’s even a C at this point, but could very well show up on this list next year.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on Dec 20, 2025 11:06 AM EST reply actions

+1

But mostly because he’s a Rutgers guy

Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Dec 20, 2025 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

Other guys to look into

Tucker Barnhart - Catcher with solid defensive tools and a solid bat
Scott Carroll - As a reliever his fastball could play up and he is already hitting 94-95 with it at times.
Jeremy Horst - lefty reliever with mostly average stuff, above avg change up though and outstanding numbers
Jacob Johnson - Righty with some polish, improved as the season went along. Not a lot of upside, but could be a back end of the rotation starter, great work ethic and solid stuff.
Brian Pearl - Missed most of last year with an injury, but was hitting 96 as a starter before going down.
Felix Perez - Age isn’t working on his side, but he has solid tools across the board and hit well all season outside of 2 weeks in AA when he returned from an oblique injury.
Philippe Valiquette - Lefties that can hit 100 MPH just don’t come around often, even if its his only average pitch at this point.

www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Dec 20, 2025 12:50 PM EST reply actions

Tucker Barnhart

Given his age, draft situation, I would think you would definitely want him in. He didn’t get an enormous amt of playing time this summer but he played well when he did, not bad for a HS draftee playing with college boys.

by mbushskbum on Dec 20, 2025 2:34 PM EST up reply actions

Definitely Barnhart.

Talented kid who can hit and can stick behind the plate. He has a strong arm and can play multiple positions. The Reds gave him $250,000 to buy him away from Georgia Tech. A strong sleeper in the organization.

We Are ... Marshall!

by Thundering Turtle on Dec 21, 2025 10:33 AM EST up reply actions

agreed on Barnhart

may be a few years before it happens, but I could see him cracking the top 25 eventually, maybe top 10.

by pack_fan on Dec 21, 2025 1:11 PM EST up reply actions

Jordan Hotchkiss

He was the Reds ‘minor-league pitcher of the year’ award winner this past season.

Others to consider:

Matt Fairel (LHP)
Daniel Tuttle (RHP)
David Vidal (3B/C)
Alex Buchholz (3B/2B)

by wanderinredsfan on Dec 20, 2025 1:10 PM EST reply actions

ok

I’m cutting Duran (who I don’t believe in) and Tanner Robles for Valiquette and Horst.

by John Sickels on Dec 20, 2025 1:12 PM EST reply actions

Really???

IMO, Duran has more raw power than anyone else in the entire system. More than Bruce or Votto, even. Francisco might come closest. Duran can put on a show in BP. Unfortunately, he is 6’6" or greater, which means he has a HUGE strike zone. He has trouble making contact, but if he can overcome this, watch out.

I still like him a lot, and am not ready to write off a teenager with such upside just yet. Another stinker next year, then I’ll be concerned, but I’m probably gonna let him reach 20 or 21 before I call him a bust. The Reds did give him a $2-mil. bonus for a reason.

Also, I really like Robles. I don’t like him more than Valiquette, but I do like him a little better than Horst. He’s my pick for ‘fastest riser through the system’ next season.

Just some food for thought.

by wanderinredsfan on Dec 20, 2025 1:26 PM EST up reply actions

Duran's power

Is very impressive. His isolated power to the three outfield spots this past season were: .500 to LF, .633 to CF and .364 to RF. That is simply insane for a teenager (it would be very impressive for someone who was 24 in AAA). The contact problems are going to need to be corrected, but his power is on a different level in the system outside of Francisco.

www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Dec 20, 2025 1:46 PM EST up reply actions

isolated power

what formula are you using for isolated power? not Slg-Avg?

by Trashman on Dec 20, 2025 5:31 PM EST up reply actions

note he said to the outfield

So he didn’t include things like Duran’s 4 triples to the second baseman and whatnot.

by mrkupe on Dec 20, 2025 5:44 PM EST up reply actions

The only formula you can use for it

But I only used his balls he hit into the outfield as the data. It is something I like to look at to give me a good idea of the amount of raw power they have. Duran is a good example of this. His IsoP overall isn’t very good, but its cut down by the amount of infield balls he has. But if we solely look at the ones he gets good wood on, to the outfield, he rates out incredibly well. Some splits for other guys from a study I did in 2009:

Duran’s total of all fields would have ranked him 13th on that list.

www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Dec 20, 2025 6:27 PM EST up reply actions

Danny Espinosa....

so good he’s on the list twice.

by Boxkutter on Dec 21, 2025 3:06 AM EST up reply actions

Nope, 3 times

That is because I broke switch htiters down to as L, as R and as S. Carlos Santana is also there.

www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Dec 21, 2025 9:16 AM EST up reply actions

Very interesting, Doug

Dom Brown’s CF IsoP is interesting. I think the three homers I’ve seen him hit were all to CF IIRC.

by blackoutyears on Dec 21, 2025 2:55 PM EST up reply actions

Not sure about this

I saw Duran play three times this summer and the most impressive thing to me (besides his size and power) is that he didn’t swing at everything. He was somewhat selective. I know his walk rate improved from 8 in 164 abs in 2009 to 19 in 201 abs in 2010. While the overall results weren’t there, to me this was a big improvement for his age in what amounts to a league full of 3 year college players +.

by mbushskbum on Dec 20, 2025 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

well ok

well ok. I’ll put duran back in and cut Horst…good numbers but marginal stuff.

by John Sickels on Dec 20, 2025 3:50 PM EST up reply actions

Lotzkar of the hill people is an interesting prospect

Provided he doesn’t completely blow his arm out with his delivery. That said he needs to get about Rookie ball, for me to put too much weight in the K/9 numbers.

by Cormican on Dec 20, 2025 2:13 PM EST reply actions

Billy Hamilton

Was easily the most impressive Mustang (if you ignore Lotzkar’s dominance on the hill at the end of the season - he was a man among boys) this year. Extremely athletic, wonderful fielder, strong arm. Not sure why they played him at 2B most of the time giving SS to Lohman. Hamilton was obviously enjoying himself, easily the fan favorite.

by mbushskbum on Dec 20, 2025 2:37 PM EST reply actions