Yesterday, it was announced that the Cincinnati Reds had traded outfielder Jonny Gomes to the Washington Nationals for two prospects: outfielder Bill Rhinehart and relief pitcher Chris Manno.
Let’s take a deeper look at who these guys are.
Neither player was ranked in the Nationals’ top 30 prospects entering the 2011 season, according to Baseball America, but both have put up very impressive seasons. Rhinehart has slugged his way to a .283/.376/.567 line in Double-A, while Manno has been lights-out in Low-A, striking out 69 batters in just 43 1/3 innings and allowing just 20 (!) hits.
You might be wondering, then, why neither prospect was known before the season, and why neither is well-known even now in spite of their success. A look at past statistics sheds some light on the reason. Rhinehart hit .240/.310/.444 last season and a miserable .239/.292/.389 the year prior, and Manno’s pro career prior to this season consisted of eighteen innings.
Rhinehart was an 11th round pick in 2007, and Manno was picked in the 26th round in 2010, so neither player has ever been held in particularly high regard. In fact, the only real positive either player has is their current statistics.
And even those come with some serious caution signs due to both players’ age. Rhinehart is going to be 27 in November, which is positively antediluvian for a prospect, let alone one still in Double-A. And Manno will be 23 in November, so he’s old for the Sally League, where many finesse lefties meet with success against unpolished hitters.
Neither player is blessed with great tools, either. Rhinehart isn’t much of a factor on the bases or in the field, so his bat will have to carry him. He’s a decent first baseman and below-average defender in the outfield corners. While he’s a solid all-around hitter (59/39 K/BB in 89 games, plus solid power), there’s not much of a chance that his bat will translate well enough to the bigs for him to be worth playing in any sort of starting role. His best hope is to become a Mark Sweeney sort of player who can be a solid bench bat who occasionally spells corner starters.
Manno, as you might expect from a 26th-round lefty reliever, doesn’t throw hard. His big weapon is a changeup, which evokes another former Low-A standout, former Diamondbacks mustache hero Clay Zavada. Again, that’s the upside here, a solid bullpen lefty who can stay in to face righties.
So, the ultimate conclusion here is that both prospects’ statlines offer some future hope, but there are a number of limitations on their future roles in the majors. Both do make some sense going to an NL club, however, where bullpens and benches factor in a great deal. It’s a decent if decidedly non-flashy return for Gomes, and of course the Reds get the added benefit of clearing some room for Chris Heisey and Yonder Alonso at the big-league level.