This week we published the 2026 Cincinnati Reds Top 25 Prospects list. If you missed it, you can see it all here. While some of you had questions during the week that did get answered (and maybe some I missed), but with the list now complete there may be more questions. And that’s what this weekend is for.
I am going to set up some quick rules for everyone as it can’t just a complete free for all. Here are the rules:
You can ask up to three questions. But please try to avoid questions that will require a bunch of research to answer.Let’s try to keep the focus on the players in the top 25 or perhaps why someone else wasn’t listed.Ask before 5pm ET on Sunday. I’m not guaranteeing that I will answer anything asked after that (but I may).
I will probably start answering questions around early afternoon on Saturday and then just stop by from time to time to answer more. Once I get started what I will do is delete the questions from the comments section and add them to the article itself, along with the answer.
Let’s get to the questions and answers!
Stharlin Torres. Everything I have read about him indicate he is in the same group as Mason Morris and Sheng-En Lin. His floor seems to be the greater than these two as well as his ceiling. Add to that the fact that he seems to have excellent control and although his velocity is not as good as Lin he was second in ACL for Swinging K% for pitchers with at least 37 K’s. He was behind only 21 year old RP Angel Perez. I have Torres at 15, Mason 18 and Lin 19. Would you be willing to provide your thought process on the exclusion of Torres from your top 25.
Stharlin Torres was one of the three players who were on my “consideration for the top 25” list who just missed. I don’t think he’s comparable to Morris at this point. Obviously the age is different with the two guys, but Morris is showing four above-average to plus pitches as a reliever coming out of college, and the Reds have stated they’re going to see if he can start after pitching in some longer relief situations in 2025 while at Mississippi in 2025. Torres simply doesn’t have that kind of stuff. Throw in that Morris has a much better frame to work with and he’s got a clear edge for me. Morris has a much higher floor. In relief he’s shown two plus pitches – the fall back if he can’t start is a power reliever. Can’t really say that about Torres at this point.
As for the difference with Sheng-En Lin and Torres – I’m not sure that there’s a real difference in their velocities as it relates to 2025. That said, one guy hadn’t pitched in over two years when it comes to games and that’s also the guy who has thrown in the high 90’s before he signed with the Reds. Lin is a better athlete, had time off of the mound for non-injury reasons, and was still very good on the mound in his limited action in 2025. While I think both guys have more in the tank, Lin’s got the edge there for me and I’m placing stock in how well he threw after all the missed time and not really focusing on pitching.
For me, Torres is a guy I just want to see more from. Right now he’s a guy with solid stuff who was successful in rookie ball. If he had big time stuff right now, or tons of projection left, he would have made it. But for now he’s a guy who found success in rookie ball without a plus pitch who throws 92-94. That’s a fairly common profile and he’s still in the “got to prove it more” area for me. Finding success in full-season ball will start moving him up the rankings if he can do that.
What are your greatest concerns with the Reds minor league system?
Right now I think there’s a lack of depth. That’s not terribly surprising given the promotions in the last few years. Still, I think you can see that in the bottom half of the Top 25 where a lot of the guys feel like they’d be ranked lower in the past when the system was stronger.
What are the Reds greatest strengths in the minors?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before….. They’ve got a whole lot of quality shortstop prospects. Five of the top 13 guys are shortstops. And all of them are real shortstops, not “guys who can play shortstop in the minor leagues”.
Post Thanksgiving, turkey pot pie or turkey sandwiches — you can’t say both — your pick? If neither, your choice of leftover? I go sandwich, tons of mayo, lettuce and tomato, salt and pepper, maybe a hot pepper if I’m feeling it.
Turkey pot pie. No question. There’s nothing wrong with a turkey sandwich, so don’t get me wrong. But give me a turkey pot pie with potatoes, carrots, peas, and I’m going to be ready for a nap in 25 minutes.
However, my favorite leftover thing from Thanksgiving is dressing. I mix that in with scrambled eggs every day after turkey day until it’s gone and it’s just perfect.
Sheng-En Lin – is the two way experiment over? If not, any rumored road maps to step way development? If yes, pitching his best trait?
It’s possible that I misunderstood, but when speaking with a Reds official I was told that he was going to focus on pitching moving forward. So it does sound like, at least for now, that is over.
I do think that he’s got more upside as a pitcher. At the plate he had some potential, but more so as a possible fringe starting player who relied more on defense than offense. Where as on the mound he’s got potential to be a solid starting pitcher.
Mason Neville strikes out a lot, but he also hits with a lot of power. Have you heard anything from any people in the Reds organization that would indicate that he’s likely to cut down on K rate. Also is he missing in the zone or chasing?
I haven’t heard that, but I also didn’t ask anyone specifically about that.
When it comes to his missing in the zone, we’ve got very limited data from his professional debut. He swung at 65 pitches in the zone with Daytona (road games only). He missed 19 times on those pitches. That’s an in-zone contact rate of 71%. For some perspective here, there were 277 players in MLB in 2025 who had at least 300 plate appearances. An in-zone contact rate of 71% would rank tied for last with Gabriel Arias.
But also to put this into perspective, Rafael Devers and Nick Kurtz, both guys who are known very good hitters, are also ranked in the bottom six of baseball (they are at 76% and 74%). Shohei Ohtani is 13th worst in baseball. Kyle Schwarber is 15th worst. Both of those guys are below 80%.
You can be a good hitter while still swinging and missing a lot in the zone. You just better be doing damage when you do make contact. And you need to walk quite a bit, too. Given the sample size with Neville, I wouldn’t put much into 71%. He’s probably at the lower end of the range given what we do know, but I wouldn’t focus on the exact percentage given the 65 swings we’re looking at.
What is interesting is that his out of zone contact rate, which again – sample size issue, was actually good. You can argue that making contact out of the zone actually isn’t good because you usually don’t turn that contact into hits, where as a swing and miss will sometimes give you another chance to do something positive. Still, his out of zone contact rate on 37 swings was 62%. That would have ranked 79th in baseball among the 277 players in MLB, directly behind Mookie Betts. As for his overall chase rate, it was 25% with Daytona in their road games. That’s actually pretty good.
Who else almost made your top prospects list?
Carlos Sanchez was in the discussions. So was Ryan McCrystal.
What is Reds weakest position in minor leagues?
On one hand I want to say relievers, but with all of the starting pitchers who could turn into big league relievers I’m not sure that’s an entirely fair assessment. It’s just that it’s a big unknown. Most big league relief pitchers were starting pitchers for most of their minor league careers.
So if we look beyond that, maybe third base if we exclude Sal Stewart? Maybe it’s center field? You’ve got Sanchez and Jorge in the Top 25, but Sanchez has never played stateside and Jorge hasn’t hit much in the last two years and hasn’t played in the upper levels of the minor leagues yet. Going back to the depth in the farm system I think this is where you can really see it. There are probably four positions you can point to and wonder if anyone’s a regular at that spot.