Cincinnati Reds Promote Another Top Prospect in Aggressive Move

The Cincinnati Reds are promoting their fourth-ranked prospect, Tyson Lewis from Low-A Daytona to High-A Dayton.

The Reds drafted Lewis with the 51st pick out of Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska.

Lewis exploded onto the scene as a 19-year-old with the ACL Reds, slashing .340/.396/.532 in 46 games. He was called up to Daytona for the second half of the season and his numbers came back down to earth, slashing .268/.347/.417 with 12 extra-base hits.

This season, he's spent the first 52 games with Daytona and has struggled offensively. The 20-year-old is slashing .243/.311/.376 with 20 extra-base hits, but just four home runs.

This feels like an aggressive move since Lewis has not put up very good numbers with Daytona. The Reds must feel like he's ready to make the leap despite his struggles.

Scouting Report on Lewis

Lewis packs a lot of punch with his swing, but has struggled with strikeouts. Last season with Daytona, Lewis struck out over 35% of the time. This year, he is striking out 33% of the time and chasing over 36% of the time.

"A physical and athletic left-handed hitter, Lewis can hit the ball as hard as just about anyone in the Reds’ system, with a max exit velocity of over 112 mph during his time in the Florida State League," MLB Pipeline wrote. "He’s a very aggressive hitter who likes to attack early in the count and that got him into trouble when he moved up to a higher level. He had a 41 percent miss rate and 45 percent chase rate, per Synergy, in his 35 games with Daytona. The Reds feel more reps will enable him to hone in on a better overall approach and hit with two strikes so he can get to his considerable raw power more consistently."

He will be younger than just about every player in Dayton. If Lewis can continue to refine is approach and cut down on the swing and miss, he could see his potential skyrocket.

Defensively, Lewis has split his time between shortstop and third base and has struggled at both positions. In 25 games at third, Lewis has made eight errors. In 23 games at shortstop, he's made seven errors.

While Lewis has huge potential, it's pretty surprising to see the Reds be this aggressive with him, considering his struggles offensively and defensively.

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