David Holmberg

Holmberg came over from the Diamondbacks in the offseason three-way trade that sent Ryan Hanigan to the Rays. He spent most of the year at Triple-A Louisville, where his results were pretty spotty, and hurt some by a midseason shoulder injury. His first outings with the Reds were pretty ugly, too, as he allowed eight homers in just 30 innings. He's pegged to begin 2015 in Triple-A, and barring an order of magnitude improvement, projects to be no more than a spot starter again for the Reds in the future.

One of the brightest young prospect in the Arizona system, Holmberg posted a great year in Double-A Mobile in 2013 with his 2.75 ERA. His command is good, but the lefty still has some polishing to do. The D-Backs included Holmberg in their three-team trade with the Reds and Rays in December, putting Holmberg in the mix for a rotation spot in Cincinnati at some point in 2014. Most likely, he'll start the season with his new Triple-A affiliate in Louisville to refine his secondary offerings against advanced competition.

The D-Backs gave Holmberg his first taste of Double-A, which led to a drop in strikeout rate (6.4 K/9) after he fanned nearly a batter per inning at his previous minor league stops. Right-handed hitters presented more of a challenge to Holmberg after the level bump, as he struck out just 13.8 percent of them after fanning righties at a 29.8 percent clip at Visalia. Given that he did not display a significant lefty-righty split at previous levels, it will be interesting to see if he can adjust. Considering that he's only 21, the D-Backs will likely return him to Mobile to begin the 2013 season, where he'll continue to refine his arsenal and prepare for a potential 2014 arrival.

Holmberg's fastball velocity jumped from the 89-91 mph range to 93-95 at Low-A South Bend and the results reflected it. After an impressive 14-start run in the Midwest League, he was given the promotion to High-A Visalia where the strikeout rate remained impressive (9.6 K/9IP) over his final 13 starts. Holmberg has demonstrated good control (career 2.7 BB/9IP) to this point, so there's little reason to be concerned about his spike to 4.4 BB/9IP in the second half. Further, he's done an excellent job of preventing long balls by inducing a decent number of his outs on the ground (1.20 GO/AO). He should get his first taste of Double-A in 2012, while the D-Backs can afford to be patient with him as he turned 20 in July and probably won't make a big league arrival until late 2013 at the earliest.