2025 Community Prospect Rankings: Sammy Stafura is the Reds #8 prospect!

A breakout 2024 put Stafura firmly on the map, and he’ll get a chance to play in more hitter-friendly parks going forward.

After a dismal debut in an extremely small sample size in 2023 after being drafted, Sammy Stafura broke out in a big, big way during the 2024 campaign. Between his early work in the Arizona Complex League and eventual promotion to the Daytona Tortugas of the Class A Florida State League, he hit an impressive .270/.387/.412 acrosss 421 total PA, with 8 dingers and 31 steals to his credit.

Not bad for a 19 year old who was nearly two full years younger than the FSL league average, let alone one who played exclusively at shortstop (when not occasionally DHing).

The New York product and former Clemson commit certainly lived up to his 2nd round draft status and more last year, and hopes are high he’ll post some even more impressive numbers this upcoming season when out of the pitcher-friendly confines of Florida.

He’s your #8 prospect this year. On to the voting for spot #9!

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Tyson Lewis, SS - 19 years old

2024 at a glance: Hit .496 with 8 dingers and 14 doubles in 38 games for Millard West High School in Omaha, NE; drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2024 MLB Draft; signed for an above-slot $3.05 million to turn pro in lieu of attending the University of Arkansas

Pros: Well rounded athlete with 60-grade speed and potential for good power from the left side of the plate

Cons: Defense is solid, yet not spectacular at SS, and it’s likely he ends up moved off the position; not exactly from a baseball hotbed

Tyson Lewis has above-average ability across the board, and if you squint you can see a potential five-tool guy. Right now, it’s more that he’s something of a B+ student in all five tools instead of a guy who’s got two A’s and a trio of Cs.

That can be a good thing! It’s just that we need to see how it translates level by level, since it doesn’t appear he’s shown anything yet that has people already convinced one particular skill is way beyond his level.

He’s just 19, of course, and there’s ample opportunity for that to be shown, he’s just not yet played a professional game since being drafted. So, Lewis gets to play the role of mystery team in this year’s CPR - let’s see who among us is already convinced!

Ricardo Cabrera, SS/3B - 20 years old

2024 at a glance: .253/.331/399 with 11 HR, 19 SB in 456 PA with the Daytona Tortugas (Class A Florida State League)

Pros: 60 grade arm (rated as Best Infield Arm in the Reds system by Baseball America); advanced hitting approach with developing power

Cons: Defense is iffy at SS, and he may already be a permanent 3B already

The Reds swung big to sign Cabrera in the 2022 international signing period, doling out $2.7 million to get the deal done. At the time, he was touted as a guy whose bat did a lot of loud talking, and that’s largely been the case ever since he made his pro debut in the states.

His surface numbers above seem slight, but that’s taken with a giant grain of salt given that he spent the entire year plying his trade in the extremely pitcher-friendly environment that is the Florida State League. All told, that .730 OPS equated to a 111 wRC+, or 11% better than league average - and he did that at age 19, or 1.9 years younger than league average.

His 6.8% walk rate needs to improve, but he’s a hitter whose strikeout rate so far rates better than average, too. In other words, overall selectivity is what he needs to work on, as he’s taking a lot of swings. If he refines that, though, he sports the kind of bat that should play plenty well at 3B, which is where he moved to primarily in 2024 and is likely to remain.

Connor Phillips, RHP - 24 years old

2024 at a glance:

Pros: Fastball that can touch 100 mph; potential plus curveball and slider

Cons: Finding the strikezone has been, at times, impossible for Phillips

Phillips was shelled for 15 dingers and 64 ER across 57.0 IP for AAA Louisville to begin the 2024 season, a 14 game stretch that produced numbers as bad as I’ve seen for any pitcher at any level in a long, long time.

Frankly, that’s because pitchers performing that poorly don’t usually keep getting that many opportunities. In Connor Phillips, though, the Reds know there’s something better in there somewhere, and they’re going to exhaust every last way of allowing him to rediscover that. They shipped him to their complex in Arizona to do side work for some two months after that disastrous start, and when he returned to the Bats he pitched to a tidy 2.49 ERA with a 24/10 K/BB in 21.1 IP across 5 games. He backed that up with a solid, if unspectacular 19.1 IP in Arizona Fall League work, and mostly looked more like the guy who cracked Top 100 overall lists before the season began.

Look, there’s ample evidence out there for you to believe he’ll never cut it as a big league starter and that his inability to throw strikes will continue to plague him. There’s also enough talent (and spurty performance) to allow you to think he’s the best pitcher in the entire system if you catch him on the right day. So, I’ve added him to the mix here earlier than you might have expected to see just how many of you are still on the optimistic side with him.

Julian Aguiar, RHP - 24 years old

2024 at a glance: 6.25 ERA, 6.86 FIP, 1.33 WHIP in 31.2 IP for the Cincinnati Reds; 3.79 ERA, 1.21 WHIP in 116.1 IP split between Louisville Bats (AAA International League) and Chattanooga Lookouts (AA Southern League)

Pros: Strike-thrower who uses a sinker/slider mix; fastball that sits around 95 mph and a potential plus changeup

Cons: Will miss the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late 2024

Aguiar was drafted in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Reds out of Cypress College (CA), a JUCO program that hasn’t exactly produced a ton of big league talent before (Rowan Wick, who caught for the Cubs for a time, and former outfielder Brandon Barnes are their best known products). He signed for just $125,000, never really sat on any top prospect lists prior to 2023, at which point he fired 125.0 IP of 2.95 ERA/1.10 WHIP work between Dayton and Daytona and firmly worked his way into the Reds pitching depth chart.

Solid enough work again in 2024 put him in line for a call-up in August when the Reds rotation was in tatters. While his numbers certainly were nothing to write home about there, he did flash some stuff that looked like it could get big league hitters out more often than not.

Problem is, it’s hard to discern just how much his stumbles before his season ended were due to the elbow troubles that eventually led him to Tommy John surgery. If he’s more effective at throwing strikes when his elbow’s in better shape, perhaps he’d have shown even more than we saw last. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait another year to find out, as he’s likely in recovery-only mode for the entirety of 2025.

Hector Rodriguez, OF - 21 years old

2024 at a glance: .274/.309/.420 with 12 HR, 12 SB in 541 PA with the Dayton Dragons (High A Midwest League)

Pros: Above average hit tool from the left side and makes a lot of contact; 60 grade runner

Cons: Just 26 walks taken in 541 PA last year, and could use some more selectivity at the plate; lack of arm strength means he’s likely best suited for LF

Rodriguez is a streaky hitter who, at times, seems to put every pitch thrown his way in play. When the hits are falling, that means he can stack them up in a hurry, something he did in spades in Dominican Winter League play where he hit .309/.344/.487 in 160 PA for the Leones de Escogido and took home Rookie of the Year honors.

He excels at not striking out, and if he can find a way to a) be a bit more selective and b) maintain that excellent contact rate, he could take completely off. As one of the players acquired from the New York Mets in the 2022 deal that sent Tyler Naquin the other way, he continues to look like a steal, with 2024 his first chance to show what he can do in the upper minors.