One Reds Prospect Was Named Most Likely Future Closer and It Wasn’t Who You’d Expect

MiLB.com's Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis, and Jonathan Mayo wrote an interesting article earlier this week, picking a prospect from each team that has the most closer potential.

For the Reds, they chose starting pitcher Chase Petty, who is currently Cincinnati's No. 7-ranked prospect.

"Petty is still very much a starting pitcher prospect and is only 23 years old, hitting the big leagues each of the last two years, including going 5 2/3 innings in a start for the Reds on Monday," the trio wrote. "The stuff still works and he’s super-athletic, but he really struggled execution-wise in 2025. He’s been missing more bats so far in Triple-A this year, but his command has only been so-so, and we’d be interested to see if his 96-98 mph sinker ticks up in shorter stints to go along with his swing-and-miss sliders and solid changeup."

Petty looked much better in his first start with the Reds this season against the Cubs last week, giving up three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. The Reds led 3-0 in the fourth and Petty was cruising right along before he walked the two first batters of the inning and then got behind Seiya Suzuki before allowing a three-run home run to tie the game. Other than that, Petty looked in command and looked much better than he did in 2025.

Petty said after last Monday's game that he learned a lot from his struggles last season.

“It was exactly that,” he said. “I was 22 years old coming in. A lot can happen in a year. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned how to handle myself, how to control the controllables on the mound.

Reds manager Terry Francona also had high praise for him, but noted you can't give up free passes and fall behind in the big league

“I thought he was terrific,” Francona said. “In the grand scheme of things, it was really good. For us trying to win tonight, you can’t walk the two leadoff hitters. And then he fell behind Suzuki and threw him a fastball up, and just climbed all over it.”

While it’s clear the Reds still view Petty as a starting pitcher, they’ve shown a willingness to move arms like Connor Phillips to the bullpen when command issues made starting difficult.

Petty is still just 23 years old. I don't think the Reds are anywhere close to switching him to a reliever at the moment.

Add us as a preferred source on Google