"Twas the night before the Trade Deadline, when all through the Queen City not a Reds' fan was stirring, not even Gapper or Mr. Red."
In the very early stages of July 31st, Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty made his second deal of the week as he sent former top-10 pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, starting pitcher Mike Leake to the San Francisco Giants for top prospect Keury Mella and 2015 Pacific Coast League All-Star Adam Duvall. Yet, who are these two players that have the potential to be future stars at Great American Ball Park?
Adam Duvall (1B)
Draft: 11th round (2010, SF)
Highest Level: MLB
Prospect Rank (CIN): Unranked
Age: 26
"Crack! Gone! Duvall with his 26th home run of the season!"
Unlike many power hitting prospects, Adam Duvall has spent every year except the last at one level of the Minor Leagues. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old has had campaigns worthy of a mid-season promotion as he has hit at least 17 home runs in each of his full professional seasons. In fact, his performance last season was so great (.298 batting average, 27 home runs, & 90 RBI in 91 games) that Duvall was finally rewarded by San Francisco with a in-season call-up from Fresno (Triple-A) to the big club. In his short stint in the Majors, the Louisville, Kentucky native batted .192 with three home runs and five RBIs.
Although his stats are all inferior in comparison to 2014, Duvall has put together another great season in 2015 as he enters today's play with 26 home runs and 80 RBI, to go along with a .281 average in 100 Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) games.
Reports are the slugging first baseman will head home to join the Louisville Bats (Triple-A) of the International League.
Keury Mella (RHP)
Draft: Signed with SF in 2011
Highest Level: Single-A Advanced
Prospect Rank (CIN): fifth
Age: 21
"Strike three! Keury Mella with a career-high 10 strikeouts!"
When Dominican Republic native Keury Mella fanned nine batters in seven innings of shutout baseball in his fourth pro start, the San Francisco Giants knew they had a very special hurler. Three years later, the Cincinnati Reds have acquired the talented 21-year-old for Mike Leake.
Since his first professional season, the pitcher with a fastball/curveball/changeup repertoire has dominated the Arizona (Rookie League) and Northwest League (Single-A Short Season) while pitching very well in the South Atlantic (Single-A) and California League (Single-A Advanced). As a matter of fact, Mella's campaign this season (5-3 record, 3.31 ERA, and 83 strikeouts in 81.2 innings pitched) with San Jose earned him an All-Star Futures Game selection, while moving him atop MLB.com's organizational prospect rankings for San Francisco.
Mella is expected to join the great starting rotation of the Daytona Tortugas, which features fellow All-Star Futures Game selection Amir Garrett and top-10 Reds' prospect Nicholas Travieso, for his organizational debut.