Rising stars who could shape the Reds’ future
This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CINCINNATI — Mining homegrown talent by drafting and developing players is the key for the Reds to try and stay competitive, because they know as a small-market club, they can’t overspend their way to success.
After having 16 players reach the big leagues in 2023, nine more players made their Major League debut for Cincinnati in ’24. Among the prospects were starting pitchers Rhett Lowder (Reds’ No. 2 prospect, No. 33 overall) and Julian Aguiar (Cincinnati’s No. 11 prospect) and outfielder Rece Hinds.
MLB Pipeline ranked the Reds’ farm system at No. 14 in baseball, after it entered the year in the No. 10 spot and finished 2023 at No. 5. Part of it is because many of the system’s best players are still extremely young and still playing below the Double-A level.
