Who’s up next on your list?
Leo Balcazar landed in spot #13 in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings here at Red Reporter, doing so after putting a major injury that required surgery further into the rear-view mirror and once again looking more like his previous top-prospect self. Interestingly enough, I’ve added a player with a similar tale to the group for this round of voting.
Per usual, you can find the link to the Google Form for voting right here, yet it’s also embedded at the bottom if you want to read through first and not have to embark upon the painstaking process of scrolling all the way back up here. Both link and embed will be removed once voting closes so you can’t stuff the ballot post facto, however, so be advised that this paragraph will make zero sense if you stumble back across it a year from now.
Here’s how the list has materialized so far:
- Sal Stewart
- Alfredo Duno
- Rhett Lowder
- Hector Rodriguez
- Edwin Arroyo
- Cam Collier
- Steele Hall
- Tyson Lewis
- Chase Petty
- Arnaldo Lantigua
- Jose Franco
- Zach Maxwell
- Leo Balcazar
A large list of talented names exists below for spot #14. Have at it with the votes!
Adolfo Sanchez, OF (19 years old)
2025 at a glance: .339/.474/.504 with 2 HR, 10 SB in 154 PA with DSL Reds (Dominican Summer League)
Pros: Left-handed hitter who profiles to have a plus hit tool and potentially plus power; arm good enough to play RF if he doesn’t stick in CF; shaved 20% off his K% year over year; plus runner
Cons: Questions whether he’s already physically matured to the point where projecting him to be much better exist
The Reds signed Sanchez for $2.7 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2024 and kept him there to ply his trade professionally in the Dominican Summer League. Things went quite poorly for him there during his age 17 season, and he subsequently stuck around there to repeat in 2025 – though this time, things went swimmingly.
He’ll undoubtedly play in the States in 2026, but the question now is just how quickly the Reds might try to move him up if he hits the ground running. At 6’3” and 200 lbs already, he’s not the kind of prospect where you say he’s X now, but when he gets bigger and stronger he’ll be Y in two years. In other words, if he looks the part now, he needs to be challenged immediately, and my hope is that he gets time with Daytona right off the bat.
He’s got a hit tool that comes with all-fields power, excellent patience at the plate, and I really do think his swing will continue to play. Still, it’s likely he ends up in a corner spot in the OF, which means the power’s going to need to continue to show up for him to project as an everyday regular – at least vs. RHP.
Aaron Watson, RHP (19 years old)
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
Pros: 6’5” 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
Cons: Did not pitch professionally after being drafted, so he’s a complete unknown
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’s got an ideal frame to produce downhill offerings, and his fastball/slider mix is already something on which he can hang his hat.
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 ‘feel’ 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.
Carlos Jorge, OF (22 years old)
2025 at a glance: .251/.342/.355 with 6 HR, 40 SB in 469 PA with High-A Dayton Dragons (Midwest League)
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
Cons: ISO declined for third straight year, this time precipitously; prone to extreme streakiness
If you threw out every other stop of Carlos Jorge’s pro career and just focused on the good ones, he’d already be ranked by now. The good parts of the best of his years have been quite tremendous, all told. He’s 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).
However, he’s 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.
Maybe it’s just Dayton, where he was again in 2025 in a much better all-around year, even though his power dried up again. He’ll 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’s been for most of his career), perhaps 2026 will have a lot more in store for him.
Liberts Aponte, SS (18 years old)
2025 at a glance: .247/.368/.461 with 7 HR, 9 SB in 193 PA for DSL Rojos (Dominican Summer League)
Pros: 29/35 K/BB showed greatly improving strike zone awareness; already a plus defender at short where he projects to be excellent both with range and arm long-term
Cons: Still not viewed as a potential plus with the bat, though early returns are already better than original scouting reports; has a long way to go in terms of physically maturing
The Reds doled out $1.9 million to sign Aponte last January, and that marked the single largest contract they doled out in that particular international signing window. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the #18 player overall in that class, noting he was ‘one of the most skilled defenders in his class’ and ‘offers solid wheels’ with ‘magic in his hands’ while doling out a 65 grade on his fielding ability.
The rest, we knew, would take time, as he was just liked at 6’0” and 160 lbs, and that even felt like a slight exaggeration. To his credit, though, he mashed 7 homers as a 17 year old in DSL play while showing more power than anticipated, and if that aspect of his game grows to match what’s already known the Reds have found themselves a gem.
It will be interesting to see if the Reds push him up to Arizona Complex League play at all in 2026 or give him another year in the DSL seeing as he just turned 18 years old in November.
Luke Holman, RHP (23 years old)
2025 at a glance: ER, 2 H, 10 K, 4 BB in 9.0 IP with Daytona Tortugas (Class-A Florida State League
Pros: Two plus breaking pitches (slider, curve)
Cons: Not a ton of velocity on his fastball, which sits 91-94 mph
Luke Holman threw 109 pitches for LSU in a 6-2 loss to North Carolina on June 1st, 2024, a game in which he yielded 4 ER in 6.2 IP with 7 H, 11 K, and a lone walk. Since then, he’s thrown just 9.0 IP on a mound, total.
Holman, Cincinnati’s 2nd round pick in 2024, sat out the remainder of 2024 after being drafted, finishing his calendar year with 91.2 IP of 2.75 ERA ball that included a wonderful 0.98 WHIP and 127/33 K/BB. When his 2025 began in Daytona, all signs looked promising in his first pair of starts only for an elbow issue to subsequently sit him down and require Tommy John surgery, and we’ve not seen him since.
He sat 91-94 with his fastball (and touched 96) before, and has a pair of wicked breaking balls that he uses as his out pitches. If he returns to form in 2026 the way he ways before (or even better!), he still profiles as a back-end starter who should move quickly through Cincinnati’s system after dominating SEC play in stints first with Alabama and later with LSU.
Mason Morris, RHP (22 years old)
2025 at a glance: 9.00 ERA, 7/1 K/BB in 4.0 IP with Class-A Daytona Tortugas; 3.29 ERA, 78/31 K/BB in 54.2 IP with University of Mississippi
Pros: Fastball that can touch 100 mph; four-pitch mix
Cons: Lack of experience
Mason Morris landed with Ole Miss in 2023 primarily as a corner infielder, and the now 6’4” 225 lb righty only recently became a full-time pitcher prior to the Reds selecting him with their 3rd round pick in 2025. He’s got projection through the roof, though, with a 100 mph heater, plus cutter, and a pair of other breaking balls that look like they’ve also got the juice.
The question, though, is how Cincinnati plans to use him.
Morris only got a pair of outings as a pro after being drafted, and it appears the Reds have intentions on seeing if he can develop into a starting pitcher. That’s something he’s never really done before, however, and he’ll turn 23 years old in August of 2026. So, we’ll see how long of a leash the Reds give him with that avenue, since if they want to simply keep him in the bullpen there’s very little reason why he shouldn’t rocket through the minors and give them a legit relief arm at the big league level in short order.
Julian Aguiar, RHP (25 years old)
2025 at a glance: Did not pitch
Pros: Four-seam fastball that flirts with 100 mph; five-pitch pitcher with a pair of breaking balls and potentially plus change-up
Cons: Missed all of 2025 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery; roughed up in 31.2 IP in MLB debut in 2024 (22 ER, 8 HR)
Julian Aguiar has risen quietly through the ranks of the Reds after being a 12th round pick out of Cypress College back in 2021, and his 2024 season saw him rocket from AA Chattanooga all the way through AAA and then to the Reds. Unfortunately, his short stint there ended with him requiring Tommy John surgery, and he missed all of 2025 while recovering.
He’s got plus potential with at least three pitches, and has another two that are still passable to keep hitters off-keel. His 360/93 career K/BB in 346.1 IP across the minors shows he’s got good strikeout stuff and a passable ability to keep hitters from free passes, and if his command returns as quickly as his velocity does post-surgery he should be in the mix to get big league batters out in some role as early as Opening Day. My best guess, though, is that he’ll be slated for AAA Louisville’s rotation to re-establish himself as a starter first, and he won’t actually turn 25 until June.
Category: General Sports
