SURPRISE, AZ - NOVEMBER 03: AFL East All-Star, Taylor Trammell #26 of the Cincinnati Reds bats during the Arizona Fall League All Star Game at Surprise Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ – OCTOBER 16: Taylor Trammell #26 of the Scottsdale Scorpions and Cincinnati Reds in action during the 2018 Arizona Fall League on October 16, 2018 at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
One of the most impressive athletes in the minor leagues is part of the Cincinnati Reds system and made a big-time showing in the Arizona Fall League this year.
With each of our top 10 prospect lists this offseason, we will have a scouting report on one player from that organization’s top 10 list. With our recent review of the Cincinnati Reds, we will take a look at infielder Taylor Trammell, the Reds #2 prospect.
Player Profile
Committed to Georgia Tech to play both baseball and football, Trammell was viewed as a tough sign entering the 2016 draft, so it took the Cincinnati Reds and their large bonus pool to be able to sign him for $3.2 million as the 35th overall selection.
The Cincinnati Reds were aggressive with their initial assignment with Trammell, pushing him to advanced rookie Billings in the Pioneer League. He showed no ill effects from the higher level of competition, hitting .303/.374/.421 in his draft season with 9 doubles, 6 triples, 2 home runs, and 24 stolen bases posting a 23/57 BB/K ratio over 254 plate appearances.
He moved up to full-season ball in 2017 with low-A Dayton in the Midwest League. Trammell had a monster year overall, hitting .281/.368/.450 with 24 doubles, 10 triples, 13 home runs, and 41 stolen bases, posting a 71/123 BB/K over 570 plate appearances.
His impressive 2017 performance earned him notice from all the major prospect ranking services. He was the #48 prospect in Baseball America’s top 100 offseason prospect list, #43 in MLB Pipeline’s list, and #59 in Baseball Prospectus’ list.
Some saw Trammell’s 2018 as a step back, though he was playing in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League with high-A Daytona. He put up a .277/.375/.406 line with 19 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs, 25 steals, and a 58/105 BB/K over 461 plate appearances.
The Cincinnati Reds sent Trammell to the Arizona Fall League, and against some of the best arms in all of minor league baseball, he fared quite well, hitting .298/.359/.393 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, 6 stolen bases, and an 8/20 BB/K ratio over 92 plate appearances.
Scouting Report
Size/Build
Taylor Trammell is listed at 6’2″ and 195 pounds. He is built long and lean, with long legs and arms in his frame but also definitely tremendous developed athletic build on that frame. He swings and throws left-handed.
Hitting
Contact (55) – Trammell is a guy whose ability to make consistent hard contact is quite surprising when you look at his overall frame. He has long arms and lean muscle in his frame that would often lead to struggles with a consistent swing path and a slowed swing. Instead, if anything, Trammell’s biggest issue is that his swing at times can get a bit too QUICK. He has remarkably quick wrists and generates a ton of bat speed as he brings the bat through the zone, but he does generate that speed with such veracity that it could be an issue for him to control that speed through the zone. Regardless, his quick bat and the strength behind it will continue to generate plenty of hard contact that should result in at least above-average contact results.
Power (50) – In batting practice, it’s hard to believe a 50 would make sense on Trammell. Average power would simply not seem to make sense for him. However, when he gets into game situations, he dips his lead shoulder in his stance, and leans a bit forward at the waist, whereas he’s more upright in his BP swings.
That big difference right now is where it is hard to know how to grade Trammell in his power. He absolutely has the raw power to produce plus power in game, but it would take an adjustment in his setup at the plate, and he seems to utilize his setup to access his blazing speed more instantly, so there’s a trade-off in making adjustments for power on the surface.
Eye (60) – One of the things that has been impressive from day 1 with Trammell has been his impressive zone recognition, something that most multi-sport athletes tend to be rawer in their development when entering pro ball. That has allowed Trammell to move from a much higher entrance point, making significant strides already in pitch recognition, something most hitters struggle to get to until they’ve built up zone recognition that Trammell already had when he entered pro ball.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (70) – It could be argued that even a 70 for Trammell is underselling his elite speed. He has legit world-class speed at his top end, and even with longer legs, he can access that top speed fairly quick, something that many players with longer legs struggle with.
Defense (70) – While Trammell has better reads off of the bat in left field than he does in center field, his speed covers for the slight difference between the two. He could be immediately one of the best defenders in left field upon hitting the major leagues, with good glove work and good instincts along with elite speed.
Arm (40) – There’s just no kind way to put it. Trammell’s arm is weak. He’s not going to ever be a guy who has an elite arm, and that’s okay as he’s worked hard to improve his accuracy with the arm, and in left field, that could still allow him to be an elite defender.
MLB Player Comp
The comparisons in size and skill set are obvious, but incredibly, Trammell could even be better, which makes it crazy to say that Carl Crawford might even be a light comparison for Trammell.
Crawford was able to use his elite speed and above-average raw power to generate gap power and double-digit home runs such that he had a 7-year stretch from 2004-2010 where he averaged 27 doubles, 13 triples, 14 home runs, and 49 steals, while also slashing .301/.344/.461 during that time.
Incredibly, while the skillsets offensively are very similar for Crawford and Trammell, Crawford was never a great defender, just a hair above league average right away in his career and more league average to slightly below, in spite of his speed for the last decade of his career. Trammell should be able to be an elite defender upon arriving in the big leagues.
Trammell also has a very good eye at the plate. While Crawford never had a season of 100 games played where he struck out over 20%, he also peaked at a 7.6% walk rate in 2009, with a career 5.3% walk rate. Trammell has posted walk rates of 9.1%, 12.4%, and 12.6% as he’s climbed the Cincinnati Reds farm system.
Future Role
Trammell with no adjustment to his plate setup has the skills to be a very good hitter at the top of the order, providing elite defense in left field, elite speed on the bases, and enough power to the gaps (and some over-fence power as well) to set up the lineup at the beginning of the game and also to turn the lineup over when it got to his spot in the middle of the game.
If you consider that Crawford peaked at 7 bWAR in that 2004-2010 run and averaged 4.6 bWAR during that time without the defense or on-base skills that Trammell has, it is impressive to think of the type of impact that Trammell could have on the game overall. There’s a reason why he’s certainly among my top 25-30 prospects in the entire game.
Next. Reds top 10 prospects for 2019. dark
Trammell’s extreme athleticism will allow him to get plenty of looks, even if he would stumble at some point along the way, but so far, he’s been climbing the Cincinnati Reds ladder at a very steady and impressive pace.
