Baseball America finished up their league Top 20 prospect lists this morning when they unveiled the International League list. The Cincinnati Reds landed three players in the Top 20 with Amir Garrett coming in at #16, Jose Peraza coming in at #17 and Cody Reed coming in at #18 on the list.

Amir Garrett began his season in the Southern League with Pensacola and after a very strong performance he was promoted at midseason to Triple-A Louisville. With the Bats he posted a 3.46 ERA in 68.0 innings to go along with 31 walks and 54 strikeouts. Opposing hitters managed a .202 average against him. The scouting report, which is behind the Baseball America subscriber wall, likes his raw stuff but notes he needs to continue to improve to remain a starting pitcher.

Jose Peraza may have lost his prospect eligibility moving forward, but for the league Top 20’s he qualifies as long as he played long enough in a given league. Coming in at #17 on the list, the infielder hit .288/.333/.375 for the Bats in 288 at-bats before joining the Reds for the last seven weeks of the season and going on an absolute tear and hitting .324 on the season for Cincinnati. The scouting report talks about his strong hit tool and speed, which have been the staples for him since the beginning of his career.

Cody Reed is the last Reds prospect to make the International League Top 20 and he came in right behind the other two, who were all bunched together, at #18. In 73.0 innings for Louisville, the left handed pitcher posted a 3.08 ERA with 20 walks and 65 strikeouts. He spent most of the second half with the big league club where he really struggled to find success against Major League hitters.

Notably missing from the list are right handed pitcher Robert Stephenson and outfielder Jesse Winker. It’s worth noting that the league top 20 lists are more based on the opinions of managers and coaches throughout the league and not scouts who watch the players for the organization. The two groups aren’t always looking at the same things. That’s not to say that managers don’t know talent – they obviously do, but things may stand out to them a little differently than someone simply watching the game for the players than someone managing/coaching the game for the sake of the outcome as well as the development.

In the Triple-A leagues, when we start including players who have graduated to the Major Leauges (such as Gary Sanchez, who somehow ranked 3rd in this league after obliterating the Major Leagues after his call up), everyone in the Top 20 is going to be a Top 70 prospect in all of baseball (or not on the lists because they no longer have eligibility for those lists). Not showing up on the Triple-A list isn’t quite the same as not being listed in the A-ball lists where you aren’t dealing with as much depth.