This is the second of a series of articles leading to the trade deadline. I believe that knowing what you have is just as important as knowing what you need. So, what I have done is look at the Red’s farm system and chosen these arms, in this order as pitchers they should not trade away. I think the Reds have a really good starting rotation, so I think more than anything, the Reds are building a great home grown bullpen in their minors with two exceptions.

Rhett Lowder

Last years first round pick dominated at Wake Forest and is doing the same in the minors for the Reds. He is 22 years old, making a few adjustments in AA and will more than likely get a promotion to AAA before the end of the season. He has a 3 pitch mix of a fastball, slider, and what is possibly the best change-up in the entire system. He projects as a top of the rotation starter and is the top prospect in the talented Red’s minor league system.

Chase Petty

38 walks to 76 strikeouts. Most evaluators think that Petty has a career as a back end starter ahead of him, I am not convinced myself. I think he should be a high leverage reliever, possibly even a closer. But time will tell. He has not been anything in the minors but a starter with a 3 pitch mix with a fastball that can reach triple digits, a slider that gets high praise, and a change-up that he is working on as a distant 3rd pitch. That is mainly why I think he will eventually be coming out of the bullpen.

Zach Maxwell

Zach is 6′ 6″ 275 pounds and is all reliever with all power. The right hander was drafted in the 6th round by the Reds in 2022. He is a true reliever with a two pitch mix of a triple digit fastball with arm side run and a 90 MPH breaking ball, which some scouts have said is an out pitch, if he can control it. But, control has been a problem ever since high school and in college at Georgia Tech. While at Tech he struck out an impressive 14.7 K/9 yet he walked 9.0 per nine innings. The Reds feel as though they discovered a slight flaw in his mechanics and since addressing it the walks have almost been cut in half to 5.6 per 9 innings in his first full season in the minors. Zach has reached AAA with his overall numbers being 5-1 with a 3.44 ERA in 34 innings he has allowed 27 walks, 59 strikeouts with a .203 average against and only 1 home run. He has shown great improvement in only 2 full seasons in the minors, and a closer in waiting.

Julian Aguiar

I know, most of you reading this have more than likely not heard of Julian, I think it is because the Reds don’t know what to do with him, much like the way a prospect who comes up through the minors as a utility player is looked at. Let me explain, he is not overpowering, his control is good, not great, and his two off-speed pitches (curve and slider) often look and act the same. But, I think that just screams a multi-inning reliever. He was named the 2023 Pitcher of the Year in the Reds minor league system, mainly because he was not heavily recruited and he continued to improve for someone who was not highly sought after.

Julian is currently in AAA and is the Reds 16th overall prospect. Not bad for a pitcher (who started baseball as an infielder) selected in the 12th round and considered a long shot. He has a fastball with sink, which he got 60% ground balls off of. A low 80’s slider, and a same speed change-up that is very effective on lefties. The Reds currently have him starting in AAA where he has made 19 starts with 100 innings of 94 hit ball. He has walked 25 while striking out 82 with a 3.41 ERA. He has a 1.19 WHIP and in my opinion I would rather have him as a great multi-inning reliever than a number 4 or 5 starter, especially when the Reds already have an above average starting rotation.

Lyon richardson

To give you some background on Lyon, he was taken in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft by Cincinnati. 2019 saw his stuff continually improve, then the COVID shutdown happened. 2021 was a bad season, that saw his stuff take a downturn, then end with Tommy John. He battled back, in late 2022, then in 2023 he made it to the big leagues, and in 16 innings he gave up 17 hits with a 8.64 ERA.

So why is he on this list, honestly, he almost was not. But he has 4 pitches, with a fastball in the upper 90’s, an 80’s slider, a 70’s curveball and a change-up in the 80’s with the same arm speed as the fastball. So, he is on this list because he can touch 100 with the fastball if he comes out of the bullpen. So, like I said in the open, the Reds are building a great bullpen and Richardson can be a big part of it.

In closing, the Reds are going to make moves at the deadline. I hope they do not trade from their very deep crop of pitchers listed above. Nor should they trade from the top 5 Untouchable hitters that I wrote about last week. The Red’s under Nick Kroll have built an above average farm system, I hope they don’t tear it down trying to chase down a wild card birth hoping to just make it into the play-offs like that is some major accomplishment. The bigger accomplishment is to keep adding to the good young controllable farm system they have, and build a perennial winner from within.

Photo Credit; Reds Minor Leagues, Instagram, MLB.com, AP News