The minor league season is over. There’s still fall and winter league baseball to be played, but for all intents and purposes, the year is finished. And with that, the crew at MLB Pipeline updated their Top 100 prospects list. Well, sort of. This is what they had to say about their new “ranking”:
As we did previously in May and July, this update is separate from preseason and in-season reranks. Instead of revoting on the Top 100 completely, we’ve set a new Top 15 and then moved only the prospects who required the biggest jumps or falls (i.e., 10 spots or more in either direction). We’ve also removed five players from the Top 100 and added five replacements to complete the century mark.
That seems a bit silly. Only moving the biggest movers and shakers is better than nothing, but it feels a little half-hearted and something done more for “content production” and to have something to publish.
With that said, there are five Cincinnati Reds prospects that made the list. Right-handed pitcher Chase Burns, the Reds 1st round draft pick and #2 overall pick in 2024 comes in as the top rated player in the organization at #21. He didn’t pitch in the regular season after being drafted.
Rhett Lowder is next on the list for Cincinnati. 2023’s 1st round pick for the Reds, Lowder reached the big leagues in 2024 and posted a 1.17 ERA in six starts to end the year after beginning the season in High-A with the Dayton Dragons and working his way up from there.
After Lowder you drop into the back half of the list before another Red shows up. Shortstop Edwin Arroyo is next up and he comes in at #65. A shoulder injury in the spring led to his missing the entire 2024 regular season. He will begin playing in the Arizona Fall League – perhaps as early as Tuesday when the Glendale Desert Dogs take the field for the first time.
Sal Stewart checks in at #76 on the list. The infielder had a strong first half with High-A Dayton. Through 80 games he hit .279/.391/.454, but an injury during the All-Star break would cost him the entire second half of the year.
His teammate in Dayton, Cam Collier, rounded out the list for the Reds and was ranked 93rd on the list. The 2022 1st round pick hit 20 home runs for the Dragons this year. That made him just the 2nd player since Johnny Bench back int he 1960’s to hit 20 or more home runs in the Reds farm system while still being a teenager.
