CSNbbs

Top 30 prospects
Posted by jfay February 15th, 2010, 12:29 pm

I was supposed to leave for Goodyear yesterday. But I moved it back to Wednesday when I heard the reporting date wasn’t until Thursday. Not a good move on my part. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had to shovel my driveway in Goodyear this morning. Rough winter in the Queen City.

Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook is out. It lists each teams’ top 30 prospects. It’s always a good read. Prospect lists — and there seems to be more and more of them — are interesting but not always the best indicator of big league success. Gookie Dawkins, Chris Gruler and Ryan Wagner all topped the Reds list at one time. Two years ago, Jay Bruce was No. 1 in all of baseball, Homer Bailey was No. 9, Jonny Cueto was No. 34 and Joey Votto checked in at No. 44. Since then, Votto has been runnerup in the NL Rookie of the Year vote and finished third in the NL in OPS.

Anyway, here’s this year’s list (Aroldis Chapman would have been No. 1 if he had signed early enough to be considered):

1. INF/OF Todd Frazier: We’ll likely see him some time this year. The question: At what position?

2. 1B Yonder Alonso: If you were Alonso, wouldn’t you bring an outfield glove to spring training?

3. RHP Mike Leake: Next to Chapman, his will be the most anticipated pitching debut of the spring.

4. OF Chris Heisey: Up from No. 22 on last year’s list.

5. 3B Juan Francisco: If he walked just a little more, he’d be in the top 3.

6. OF Yorman Rodriguez: He’s got NFL speed and his arm rated the best among outfielders in the system. Doesn’t turn 18 till August.

7. LHP Travis Wood: Did not make last year’s top 30. Went 9-3 with a 1.21 ERA at Double-A and 4-2 with a 3.14 at Triple-A.

8. LHP Matt Maloney: He was much better, thanks to a cut fastball, in his second stint with the Reds.

9. RHP Brad Boxberger: He threw up to 96 when in relief. The Reds plan to use him at starter for now.

10. SS Zack Cozart. He’ll be in camp. Very good glove. But his minor league average is .265.

11. SS Billy Hamilton: Last year’s second pick. Very athletic but very raw.

12. SS/2B Chris Valaika: The Reds are hoping that last year when he hit .235 at Triple-A was an aberration.

13. 3B Neftali Soto: He only hit .248 at Double-A after hitting .303, .388 and .326 in his first three minor league stop. He’s only 20.

14. RHP Logan Ondrusek: Had a great year last year moving up three levels. One of the harder throwers. Got an invite to big league camp.

15. SS Mariekson Gregorius: Curacao native. The Reds started him at high-A Sarasota last year as an injury fill-in. Hit .254 before going to Billings, where he hit .314.

16. RHP Jordan Smith: Went 5-3 with 3.44 ERA at Double-A while dealing with knee problems.

17. SS Miguel Rojas: Good fielder. But he’s hit .232 in 951 minor league at-bats. Only 20 years old.

18. OF Juan Duran: If the Reds signed him to play basketball, it would be good news that he keeps growing. But at 6-7 or 6-8, your strike zone gets to be pretty big.

19. RHP Enerio Del Rosario: Side-armer who gets a lot of groundballs. Will be in big-league camp.

20. RHP Kyle Lotzkar: Missed all of last season with injuries. Has good stuff — he was a first-round supplemental pick in 2007. But he’s only made 19 starts in his 2 1/2 years in the system.

21. LHP Donnie Joseph: Went 4-3 with a 3.06 ERA at Billings and Dayton after being picked in the third round last year.

22. LHP Pedro Viola: Reached the big leagues last year. Throws up to 96 with an easy motion. But he’ll be 27 in June.

23. LHP Phillippe Valiquette: He’s been around since 2004. He has a good arm. Last year was his best at far as results (1-1, 2.29 ERA at Sarasota; 1-1, 2.76 ERA at Carolina).

24. RHP Mark Serrano: Last year’s sixth-round pick. Went a combined 3-1 with a 2.11 ERA in stops at Billings and Dayton.

25. RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran: Pitched against the Reds for the Dutch National team in spring training. Was so-so at Dayton — 5-5, 5.24 ERA.

26. OF Josh Fellhauer: Seventh-round pick out of Cal-Fullerton last year. Hit .280/.351/.453 in 57 games at Dayton.

27. RHP Daniel Tuttle: Power arm. Went 1-2 with a 1.67 ERA for the GCL Reds after being picked in the fifth-round last year.

28. 2B/SS Cody Puckett: Good power. He had 19 homers and 35 doubles in 125 games for Dayton last year.

29. OF Byron Wiley: He was a 22nd-round pick in 2008. He’s hit .289/.403/.507 in his 1 1/2 years in the system.

30. C Devin Mesoraco: He was the first-round pick in 2007. He’s struggled at the plate (.240/.311/.368). Part of that his been wrist and thumb injuries. Was 10th on last year’s list.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2010/02...prospects/

Nationals sign Willy Taveras
Posted by tgroeschen February 15th, 2010, 1:20 pm

Ex-Reds CF Willy Taveras signs a minor league deal with Washington.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/02/na...veras.html

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2010/02...y-taveras/

Power Packs on sale Saturday
Posted by jfay February 15th, 2010, 11:47 am

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Reds’ 10-game Power Pack ticket plan for the 2010 season will go on sale Saturday at 9:00 a.m. ET only at reds.com.

The Power Pack provides fans with tickets to seven of the hottest games of the year, including Opening Day, the Civil Rights Game, the Reds Hall of Fame Induction game and a pair of battles with the Cubs.

Plus, new for 2010, fans get to select three additional games to complete the 10-game package, making it the most flexible Power Pack offered.

Guarantee your seat for Opening Day and enjoy 10 great Reds games or split the Power Pack with family and friends.

Prices start as low as $90 per package. A limited number of packages are available.

Power Pack sales start Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 at 9:00 am ET, only on reds.com/powerpack.

2010 Power Pack games:

Monday, April 5 vs. Cardinals (Opening Day)

Saturday, May 8 vs. Cubs (2010 Team Photo giveaway)

Saturday, May 15 vs. Cardinals (Civil Rights Game/Retro Mesh Jersey Giveaway)

Saturday, June 12 vs. Royals (Scott Rolen Bobblehead Giveaway)

Saturday, July 17 vs. Rockies (Hall of Fame Induction Game/Chris Sabo Bobblehead Giveaway)

Friday, July 30 vs. Braves (Fans Choice Fireworks Friday)

Sunday, Aug. 29 vs. Cubs

… and 3 games that you choose!

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2010/02...-saturday/

I hate the Reds with a passion but always go see my Braves when they come to town so that 10 game package is a great deal.

Ugh, Mesoraco at #30 is our top rated C prospect. I was really hoping he'd eventually come around and it's too early to fully write him off, but Baseball America is a decent source and they are obviously not real high on him. Hopefully Hanigan can keep improving and claim the fulltime job because Hernandez is nearing the end of his career as a starter or co-starter imo. Not much competition in the pipeline otherwise.

I haven't checked the issue but I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't alone in lacking quality catching prospects. They seem to be even harder to find than quality pitching.

Catchers take a long time to develop.

The Reds have a pretty deep system right now.

(02-15-2010 09:14 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote: [ -> ]Catchers take a long time to develop.

Some do. I'm not sure what that has to do with the list though. Heck our #6 prospect is only 17 years old! He's probably got a lot of developing to do as well.

I'm pretty sure Mesoraco used to be rated a lot higher though by the same folks. He's going in the wrong direction as a prospect it seems. I haven't written him off but I'm less than thrilled with his progress so far.

It has to do with why I think he's had trouble adjusting to the professional level, which is highly common for catchers. Catchers are some of the hardest to project to the next level.

1st round prospects are always ranked high, even when they shouldn't be. It's really not a surprise to see him fall from an "elite" prospect in the Reds system. He was overhyped to begin with based solely on his position in the draft.

Mesoraco graduated from Punxsotawney (Groundhog) High School in 2007. He might be 21 years old right now. I think he is doing just fine.

Scouting Report
Power: 56
Batting: 34
Speed: 17
Contact: 48
Patience: 54

On a scale of 1-100, 100 being the highest, 1 being the lowest.


From The Baseball Cube:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/M...raco.shtml

The Reds will eventually package some guys and make a trade for better catching prospects.

I love the list. I've followed all those guys closely. Amazing how our pitching depth has improved drastically. Del Rosario is an interesting prospect and perfect for GABP with his excellent ground ball ratio. Andrusek is 6'-7" fireballer...........will probably be up this year. Wouldn't surprise me to see us unload Mike Lincoln at some point if he's doing respectable, and then bring the young relievers up. Viola, Andrusek, Del Rosario...............

Time for the Shortstops to put it together. We have a bunch of them, some of them still young and developing. Valaika had a bad offensive start last year..........then did better, but it didn't bring his average up enough.

Puckett is an interesting second base prospect, but he needs to cut down on his K's.

Gonna be alot of fun watching the major and minor leagues this year. Been watching Neftali Soto for a few years. Another Francisco type who is a free swinger but dangerous when he connects. He needs to fill out more but he's still young. Not as much of a HR hitter as Juan, but they will probably come.

Glad Rodriguez is finally turning 18. He's been so young playing with older guys, but still playing respectably. He should start showing us if he's got it the next few years now that his body starts to fill out.

I was never high on Mesoraco, although he's had alot of minor injuries that have limited him in certain areas, but I hated the pick and still do.

(02-15-2010 10:05 PM)ctipton Wrote: [ -> ]Mesoraco graduated from Punxsotawney (Groundhog) High School in 2007. He might be 21 years old right now. I think he is doing just fine.

Scouting Report
Power: 56
Batting: 34
Speed: 17
Contact: 48
Patience: 54

On a scale of 1-100, 100 being the highest, 1 being the lowest.


From The Baseball Cube:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/M...raco.shtml

I'm not sure what you are comparing those numbers to but they don't seem all that impressive to me. He's played three season in A ball and his averages were .219, .261 and .228 (last year) with an overall .311 OBP and .679 OPS.

You are correct that he's 21 (turns 22 in June) which is why I agree that I wouldn't write him off yet. But as far as planning on him being the Reds' starting catcher of the future, I'd write his name very lightly in pencil and only because we don't have many (any?) other viable candidates in the system - which is really my point.

Unless Hanigan takes command of the position this year, I think chatter is right and finding catching help and depth will become a big priority for the organization.