{"id":531097,"date":"2026-01-21T16:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531097\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:11:13","slug":"community-prospect-rankings-8-prospect-in-the-cincinnati-reds-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/531097\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Prospect Rankings: #8 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steele Hall was just taken 9th overall in the most recent MLB Draft, turned 18 years of age, and found himself ranked 7th on the 2026 Community Prospect Rankings at Red Reporter dot com. Pretty impressive six months there, kid!<\/p>\n

After one of the tightest voting rounds in CPR history, we move now towards voting for spot #8. By now you know the new rules – there will be an embedded poll at the bottom of this post where you can cast your vote until the poll closes, but if that\u2019s stripped out for you for some reason there will exist a link right here<\/a> to take you to Google Forms to vote. Both of those will magically disappear when voting closes, though, so that internet chicanery cannot come in after the fact, dump votes, and change the already created history of the world.<\/p>\n

On to the voting for CPR spot #8!<\/p>\n

Chase Petty, RHP (23 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: 6.39 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 102\/58 K\/BB in 112.2 IP with AAA Louisville Bats (International League); 13 ER in 6.0 IP with Cincinnati Reds<\/p>\n

Pros: Three plus pitches, including a fastball that flirts with 100 mph and 60-grade slider and cutter<\/p>\n

Cons: Lit up in first cups of MLB coffee, and struggled in AAA after being sent back down<\/p>\n

Petty has long been on the radar of every scout in the game, a former 1st round pick of the Minnesota Twins out of high school (whom the Reds had eyes on drafting back then, too). He was the centerpiece of the deal that sent Sonny Gray the other way, and he\u2019s pitched his way onto multiple Top 100 overall prospect lists since.<\/p>\n

Of course, he\u2019s also pitched his way back off those same lists, with much of his work in 2025 doing just that. He was shelled at the big league level, though that\u2019s with the caveat that he\u2019d just turned 22 years old when that went down. The stuff\u2019s still there, he\u2019s just struggled to blend it all together for long enough stretches to show he can be an effective big league starter. The hope is that the lumps he took in 2025 paired with a mostly healthy offseason for the first time in a while will send him into 2026 both ready and with something to prove.<\/p>\n

Tyson Lewis, SS (20 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: .340\/.396\/.532 (.928 OPS) in 207 PA with ACL Reds (Arizona Complex League); .268\/.347\/.417 (.765 OPS) in 144 PA with Class-A Daytona Tortugas (Florida State League)<\/p>\n

Pros: Statcast darling with elite exit velocity and power with his left-handed swing; elite athleticism and plus speed gives him a chance to stick at SS long term, though a move off the position seems likely<\/p>\n

Cons: Struck out at an alarming 35.4% rate with Daytona (and at an alarming 29.1% rate overall last year); .432 BABIP across all leagues last year screams \u2018regression\u2019<\/p>\n

Tools. Tyson Lewis has just about every tool there is. He hit a ball over 119 mph<\/a> in his pro debut, was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Nebraska prior to being a 2nd round pick (with an overslot bonus) by the Reds, and was originally committed to the University of Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The upside here is obvious, as he\u2019s got one of the loudest bats at any level. The swing and miss stuff, though, is something he\u2019ll have to completely overhaul as he moves up the ladder, though getting out of the extremely pitcher-friendly confines of the FSL will perhaps help that some.<\/p>\n

Aaron Watson, RHP (19 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of Trinity Christian Academy (FL); signed overslot $2.7 million bonus to forego commitment to the University of Florida<\/p>\n

Pros: 6\u20195\u201d frame; potential 60-grade slider; fastball that runs up to 96 mph from a three-quarter arm slot and already has a solid three-pitch mix with his change rotated in<\/p>\n

Cons: Did not pitch professionally after being drafted, so he\u2019s a complete unknown<\/p>\n

One glimpse of Watson on the mound and you immediately think yep, I bet that guy can turn into a pretty dang good pitcher. He\u2019s got an ideal frame to produce downhill offerings, and his fastball\/slider mix is already something on which he can hang his hat.<\/p>\n

However, command of all three of his pitches – specifically a very developmental changeup – will be what he needs to work on to begin to move quickly through the ranks. He possesses a good \u2018feel\u2019 at the moment in terms of what pitches to throw, which part of the zone to attack vs. which hitters, etc., but how well he can build in more deception with his offerings will be vital.<\/p>\n

Jose Franco, RHP (25 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: 3.11 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 118\/54 K\/BB in 110.0 IP split between AA Chattanooga Lookouts (Southern League) and AAA Louisville Bats (International League)<\/p>\n

Pros: Fastball that flirts with triple digits with ease<\/p>\n

Cons: Secondary pitches need work, and that\u2019s impacting his overall command (and ability to limit walks)<\/p>\n

Franco turned 25 years old in November and earned a promotion to the 40-man roster of the Reds shortly thereafter due to his consistent performance across the upper levels of their farm system.<\/p>\n

The Reds have a few hulks they\u2019ve put on the mound in recent years, and Franco thoroughly qualifies. He\u2019s listed at 6\u20192\u201d and an oddly specific 257 lbs, and his size and frame allows him to tap into his excellent fastball velocity with ease. It\u2019s the pitch he misses bats with the most, but how well he can differentiate his breaking pitches (and improve his changeup command) will determine whether or not he can a) get left-handed hitter out with aplomb and b) avoid ending up in the bullpen.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been a late bloomer, in part due to injuries that cost him his entire 2023 season, and if he continues the path he\u2019s been on since getting healthy there could be a whole lot more from him as early as 2026 for Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Carlos Jorge, OF (22 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: .251\/.342\/.355 with 6 HR, 40 SB in 469 PA with High-A Dayton Dragons (Midwest League)<\/p>\n

Pros: Plus speed; former infielder moved to CF in 2023 and in 2025 looked like a natural there; plus speed; shaved 12.5% off K-rate from down 2024 season; 60-grade arm strength a weapon in CF<\/p>\n

Cons: ISO declined for third straight year, this time precipitously; prone to extreme streakiness<\/p>\n

If you threw out every other stop of Carlos Jorge\u2019s pro career and just focused on the good ones, he\u2019d already be ranked by now. The good parts of the best of his years have been quite tremendous, all told. He\u2019s flashed great speed (40 steals in 2025), good pop for a small-ish CF (12 HR in 2023 and 2024; .483 SLG in the cavernous Florida State League in 2023), and the ability to play pretty elite CF defense (as recently as 2025).<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s added some real clunkers in there, too. He hit just .220\/.291\/.394 with a K-rate over 31% at Dayton in 2024, and that came on the heels of hitting just .239\/.277\/.398 in 23 games once he reached Dayton at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s just Dayton, where he was again in 2025 in a much better all-around year, even though his power dried up again. He\u2019ll surely begin with AA Chattanooga of the Southern League in 2026, and at 22 (with his position in CF now settled) the former 2B might finally have a one-track shot to focus on his all around game in a new locale. After acing his move on defense, shaving off a ton of strikeouts, and bumping his walk rate back up over 11.1% (where it\u2019s been for most of his career), perhaps 2026 will have a lot more in store for him.<\/p>\n

Zach Maxwell, RHP (25 years old)<\/p>\n

2025 at a glance: 4.50 ERA, 5.64 FIP, 13\/4 K\/BB in 10.0 IP with Cincinnati Reds; 4.17 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 59\/32 K\/BB in 49.2 IP with AAA Louisville Bats (International League)<\/p>\n

Pros: Huge. Literally gigantic (6\u20196\u201d, 275-ish lbs). Throws gas (100 mph+) with a devastating slider (70-grade). And he\u2019s titanic.<\/p>\n

Cons: Struggles with control (6.1 BB\/9 across 172.1 IP in his minors career)<\/p>\n

Maxwell, a former 6th round pick out of Georgia Tech, throws the ball up to 102 mph with his heater, and it\u2019s clear that hitters have just about as little idea where it\u2019s actually going to be as Maxwell himself. That\u2019s the rub here, really, in that Big Sugar has the pure stuff to turn even the best hitters into guessers, and it comes down to whether they\u2019ll guess wrong more often than Maxwell misses the zone in each and every PA.<\/p>\n

If they swing, though, they\u2019re likely going to miss, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s right in the mix for a spot in Cincinnati\u2019s bullpen again in 2026 after making his debut there in 2025. He can be a bit wild if it\u2019s effectively wild, and that\u2019s a tightrope he\u2019s been walking since his days back at North Paulding HS in Dallas, Georgia. When he\u2019s locked in, though, the heater is backed up by an absolutely devastating slide piece, and that two-pitch mix – again, when he\u2019s locked in – is good enough to be closer material. He\u2019s just got to continue to refine his delivery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steele Hall was just taken 9th overall in the most recent MLB Draft, turned 18 years of age,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,535,50,4259,67081,4,536],"class_list":{"0":"post-531097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-cincinnatireds","12":"tag-community-prospect-rankings","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-reds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115933969409785942","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}