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The Reds announced their pick in the No.5 draft of 2018 on Wednesday Jonathan India made his opening list. He will have to be added to the list of 40 players of the Reds to formalize the movement.
At this point, India winning a spot shouldn’t come as a surprise. It was obvious the Reds had expected him to play a leading role in their infield since the club decided to move. Eugenio Suarez return to short stop and slide Mike Moustakas at third base. India will likely open the season as Cincinnati’s daily second baseman on the heels of a .313 / .441 / .604 showing through 59 spring plate appearances.
Heading into the 2019 season, India, now 24, has ranked among the game’s Top 100 Prospects on Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs. At the time, India was seen as a potential above-average defender in the Hot Corner, who also had an above-average punching tool and above-average raw power. Its stock has dropped a bit since then, however, despite a strong performance between two prop pitchers in 2019 – .259 / .365 / .402 between Advanced Class A and Double-A. He still ranks third among Reds farm workers at Baseball America, fifth on MLB.com and seventh on FanGraphs.
India haven’t shown much of that raw power since their draft, although of course they’ve only had one full minor league season due to the circumstances of last year. He still has only 145 Double-A appearances under his belt and none in Triple-A, so he will make a pretty big leap into the big leagues with today’s announcement. That said, India has made three homers and collected five doubles in their 59 Cactus League appearances, and their power could be helped by playing their home games at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. At the very least, he gives the Reds an intriguing collection of infield bats, though there are questions regarding the group’s defensive outlook.
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