2025 Community Prospect Rankings: Sheng-En Lin is the Reds #13 prospect!

Will we finally see him on the mound this year?

The voting for spot #13 on this year’s Community Prospect Rankings could not have been any tighter.

At the close of the polls, both talented young two-way player Sheng-En Lin and LSU pitching product Luke Holman were tied atop the voting tally. That’s a problem, unless it isn’t - I hadn’t yet cast a vote, so I have thrown my tiebreaker to Lin.

Whether or not the Cincinnati Reds give him a full shot to be a versatile defender alongside a talented offensive player and begin to develop further as a professional starting pitcher this year, I do not know. There has already been talk of shoehorning him into a DH spot so he can focus less on defense and more on pitching, which is something of a shame, in my mind.

Still, it’s undeniable that he can chuck a ball 100 mph already, and working him out on the mound as often as is feasible sure does seem to be prudent at this stage of the game.

He’s the #13 prospect on this year’s CPR. On to the voting for spot #14!

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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.

Carlos Jorge, 2B/OF - 21 years old

2024 at a glance: Hit .220/.292/.394 with 12 HR and 28 SB in 402 for the Dayton Dragons (High-A Midwest League)

Pros: Plus runner with more pop for his size than you’d expect; former full-time infielder has taken to OF (including CF) quite well in short order

Cons: K-rate has spiked since moving up from A to A+ ball while walk rate has plummeted

At his best, Carlos Jorge has shown a borderline five-tool potential. He slugged .483 across 86 games (355 PA) in the extreme pitcher-friendly confines of the Florida State League for Class A Daytona in 2023 while sporting an excellent 13.2% walk rate and .400 OBP. He swiped 28 bags while only being caught 4 times during his 2024 campaign with High-A Dayton. He came up as a shortstop, has ample experience and skill at 2B, and has adapted to CF with plus ability, too.

If he’d been able to put all of that together in one fell swoop, he’d have already cracked this list. Instead, he’s shown flashes of brilliance with each tool while also having serious issues maintaining it all at once. His most recent body of work in 2024 showed a brutal spike in his strikeouts (K% up to 31.1%) while his walk rate evaporated (down to just 7.7%), and his overall numbers fell dramatically, too.

He only turned 21 in September, however, and there’s ample time for him to turn things around once again. The upside here, though, is still pretty tremendous.

Luke Holman, RHP - 22 years old

2024 at a glance: 2.75 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 127/33 K/BB in 91.2 IP for Louisiana State University; drafted in the 2nd round by the Reds in the 2024 MLB Draft

Pros: Strike-thrower with a plus slider and the ability to locate multiple pitches; 6’4” frame suggests he still has some development left

Cons: We haven’t seen him yet!

Holman starred for LSU in 2024 after a pair of seasons with the University of Alabama, and he’s made a name for himself as a guy who can control all parts of the zone despite a fastball that only sits 92-94 mph.

Thing is, we just haven’t seen anything from him yet as a pro despite the fact the Reds used their Competitive Balance Round B pick on him just last summer. He’s a guy who gets easily labeled as a back-end of the rotation guy, but there’s still very much a chance he’s got more to him than that.

Yerlin Confidan, OF - 22 years old

2024 at a glance: .249/.343/.419 with 9 HR, 16 SB in 400 PA with Daytona Tortugas (Class-A Florida State League

Pros: Plenty of pop from the left-hand side of the plate, with plus speed and developing plate approach

Cons: Vulnerable vs. LHP, repeated at Daytona after struggling there (.612 OPS) in 2023

Confidan flashes the kind of power from the left side that few others can replicate within the Reds farm system, and at times has put it together in-game. During the 2021 season he raked for the ACL Reds, but struggled to replicate that during most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons - seasons that saw him reach Daytona and stall somewhat.

2024 was different, fortunately, and the in-game pop began to show up (28 doubles) despite being mired in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League.

It was a performance good enough to finally earn him a likely start with High-A Dayton to begin 2025, something that’s still right on-par with his age 22 season. If his bat speed and raw power continue to develop, he’s precisely the kind of toolsy corner OF prospect the Reds desperately need in their system.

Ty Floyd, RHP - 23 years old

2024 at a glance: Did not pitch as he recovered from shoulder surgery

Pros: Rising fastball that commands the upper half of the strike zone; potentially above average slider

Cons: The aforementioned shoulder surgery means we’ve not seen him pitch in nearly two years

The Reds selected Floyd at the end of the 1st round of the 2023 MLB Draft (38th overall) out of LSU, doing so after he had joined Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews in leading the Tigers to the College World Series title. Along the way, Floyd fanned 17 Florida Gators in Game 1 of the MCWS, equaling the all-time single game record in the tournament.

When right, he can sit 95-96 mph with his rising fastball, and has a potential four-pitch mix to rely on. However, the shoulder injury and subsequent surgery means he’s still a complete unknown for both the Reds and we voters, and you’ve got to factor that in accordingly.

Hopefully he’ll be right again this spring and we’ll see his full arsenal on display.