Photo: Aldrin Capulong/Daytona Tortugas
In the last week we’ve gotten prospect rankings from the Arizona Fall League from both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Like many prospect rankings there are some guys that they share similar opinions of, but also some that they don’t. And when it comes to the Cincinnati Reds prospects we see both sides of that.
MLB Pipeline ranked their Top 30 prospects in the league on Thursday. On Monday Baseball America unveiled their Top 40 prospects in the league (subscription required). Both publications ranked Alfredo Duno in their top four. That’s not too surprising, even given that he struggled in his 15 games during the regular season to find many hits or show power. One of the youngest players in the AFL, Duno showed off his power once the playoffs started and hit four home runs in three games – including a 3-homer game for Peoria with two of them going over 450 feet.
While his AFL wasn’t much of a standout until the final three days, Duno has crushed the ball at the two levels he’s been at since turning professional. This past year he was the runaway winner of the Florida State League’s Most Valuable Player Award while serving as the catcher for the Daytona Tortugas. Earlier this month he was named as the Reds top prospect right here at RedsMinorLeagues.com.
Rhett Lowder showed up on the Baseball America list in the top 10, but he was left off of the list by MLB Pipeline. That wasn’t over a disagreement on his prospect status, but one of how much playing time someone had to have in the league to make the list and Lowder’s 9.1 innings didn’t qualify him.
One other Reds prospect made both lists, but there was a pretty big difference in the spots. Cam Collier showed up on the MLB Pipeline list at #14. The Baseball America list had him at #37. Both lists pointed out the power potential for Collier, but Baseball America’s write up had plenty of concerns and improvements that will need to be made for him to become a guy who can hit for average and tap into that power potential. MLB Pipeline’s write up wasn’t exactly glowing as it noted his lacked of athleticism and struggles at the plate out in Arizona. But they like the power and his ability to draw walks.
About The Author