With the Milwaukee Brewers winning the World Series on Wednesday night, the offseason is here for the Cincinnati Reds, and the biggest question on their list sits behind the plate.
Catcher Tyler Stephenson held the job for the past five seasons but is now headed to the free-agent market, while the next homegrown catcher in line is not expected to be ready by Opening Day.
Krall Wants Duno to Keep Developing
MLB Pipeline has catcher Alfredo Duno as the No. 1 prospect in the organization and No. 20 in baseball.
He hit .281 with an .899 OPS, 19 home runs and 61 RBIs over 97 games between High-A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga this year, but only 32 of those games came at Chattanooga because he missed a month with a right hamstring strain.
President of baseball operations Nick Krall talked about Duno in comments shared with MLB.com and did not sugarcoat where the young catcher stands.
"First, I think Duno needs to be a Minor League player. He's a great kid. He's made great strides. But he has a lot of work to do, and as a 20-year-old in Double-A, he needs to continue to develop," Krall said.
He went on to say the club does not want to rush Duno to the big leagues in a way that hurts his...