Three Sleepers in the Cincinnati Reds System

Chad Rogers was a 28th rounder out of Galveston College in 2010. He didn’t pitch after signing in 2010 due to having his foot bitten by a shark while surfing the day before he was supposed to pitch for Reds scouts (this was after he was drafted). Sixty stitches and six weeks later he threw for the Reds and signed in the middle of August.

In 2011 he worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen with 36 of his 37 games coming in a relief role. The Reds pushed him to the rotation in 2012 where he split time between the California and Southern Leagues with a combined 2.90 ERA in 143 innings with 35 walks and 111 strikeouts.

With a low 90’s sinking fastball that he commands well and an above-average slider, he may wind up in the bullpen, but later in the year he began to feature a third pitch that could give him a little more chance of sticking in the rotation. If he winds up back in the bullpen, his fastball picks up some velocity as he worked 92-94 and touched 96 in that role during the 2011 season.

The Reds selected Seth Mejias-Brean in the 8th round of the 2012 draft out of Arizona. While at Arizona he was rather unspectacular as he hit .329/.381/.421, though his Junior season did see him hit .355/.401/.479 with 22 doubles, four triples and a home run (one of only two that he hit in 663 college at bats). Pre-draft scouting reports lauded him as an excellent athlete with plenty of power potential, despite his low power output in college.

The Reds sent Mejias-Brean to Billings, Montana to play in the hitter friendly Pioneer League right out of the gate where he excelled hitting .313/.389/.536 with 12 doubles, two triples and eight home runs in 179 at bats. The power output really jumps out as a surprise given his college numbers. Given the scouting reports though, he could be one of those guys who just needed a little time and the right adjustment to put things together.

Pedro Diaz was signed by the Reds in October of 2010 out of the Dominican Republic. He spent his 18-year-old season in the Dominican Summer League before the Reds brought him to the US in 2012 at age 19 to play in the Arizona Rookie League.

At first glance his stats don’t jump out much with a 5.72 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. If you look a little deeper though you can see that he struck out 8.5 guys per 9 innings with a walk rate of 2.8 hitters per 9 innings leading to a 3.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He gave up a lot of hits, 60 in just 45.2 innings pitched, which could be a reason to pause.

Scouting wise, he has a fastball that he can throw in the mid-90’s at times and showed pretty good control for a teenager, even though it was at the lowest level in the US. Mixing a strong arm and some inklings of solid control could lead to more in the future.