This is the first installment of something I will be doing all season. It will come out every other Monday for the baseball season. Its not exactly going to be a Top 40 run down, but will touch on guys whose stock is going up or going down.
Stock up
Daryl Thompson - The fastest riser in the system without question. He has allowed 2 earned runs in 4 starts and walked just 1 batter while striking out 25 and has a WHIP of 0.72. Oh, he also has an OPS of 1.100 as a batter (Photo: Tim Evearitt).
Drew Stubbs - Hitting for a good average, getting on base and stealing a ton of bases at a perfect clip so far. After last year there were a lot of doubters but so far he is quieting some of them.
Jose Castro - 21 year old SS in AA with an OPS of .795 and a 1/1 K to walk ratio. He can play SS unlike the big hitters the Reds have that currently stand at the SS position.
Justin Turner - His bat is on fire right now, hitting .385 and slugging .500.
Chris Valaika - Like Turner, his bat is also on fire. He is hitting .324/.360/.521 on the young season with 8 XBH. He hit 2 HR in 217 AB in Sarasota last year, he has 3 in 71 AB this year.
Jordan Smith - I just left him off the Top 40 list and a few people really questioned it. If he keeps it up, I don’t know if he will be outside of the Top 20. He has walked just 4 batters in 4 starts and has 22 strikeouts. His ERA (1.42) is just slightly higher than his WHIP (1.11).
Travis Wood - The lefty is back and healthy this year. He has 17 strikeouts in 14.2 innings and boasts a 1.23 ERA.
Ramon Geronimo - The Dominican has 14 strikeouts and 2 walks to go with just 4 hits and no runs in 10.1 relief innings for Sarasota.
Keltavious Jones - He is hitting .378/.451/.644 with 5 walks and just 6 strikeouts in 50 PA. He also has 5 steals in 6 attempts
Jeremy Horst - 18 strikeouts and 6 walks in 14.2 innings for the reliever to go with a 0.61 ERA.
Sean Henry - Hitting .290/.380/.516 between Sarasota and Chattanooga with 8 XBH. Only promoted to AA to take place for injured Danny Dorn, but may end up sticking with this showing.
Jeff Jeffords - 18 strikeouts and 4 walks in 10 innings and a 1.00 WHIP will rocket your stock when last year your walks were nearly as high as your strikeouts.
Philippe Valiquette - After struggling for years to make the transition to full season ball Valiquette is looking strong so far with 10 strikeout and a 0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings.
Stock Down
Scott Carroll - So far this season the 3rd round pick has struggled. He has a 6.23 ERA and has allowed 19 hits and walked 5 while striking out just 5 in 13 innings.
Sean Watson - 10.50 ERA, 2.17 WHIP, 6 walks, 7 hits and 3 HR in 6 innings pitched.
Adam Rosales - Hitting just .200/.222/.220 with just 1 XBH in 50 at bats and has walked just twice and struck out 14 times.
Sam Lecure - 5.28 ERA, 1.89 WHIP, 13 walks and just 11 strikeouts in 15.1 innings (Photo: Tim Evearitt).
Chris Dickerson - 17 strikeouts in 51 at bats will lead to a .137/.224/.196 line through the first three weeks of the season.
Pedro Viola - 6.75 ERA, 10 hits and 7 walks in 8 innings.
Craig Tatum - Hitting just .229/.333/.375 early on.
Justin Reed - Hit just .163/.212/.163 with 21 strikeouts and just 3 walks in 52 PA.
Matt Maloney - 6.75 ERA, 17 hits and 4 walks in 13.1 innings.
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13 responses so far ↓
1 Kyle // Apr 21, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Who are you most concerned about at this point? So far im most worried about Scott Carroll and Chris Dickerson. Dickerson seems to be walking on the wrong side of the line that separates major leaguers from Dewayne Wises. I also would have expected Carroll to dominate in the MWL given his experience. I had higher expectations for Reed. With the way Jones has come on, it looks like reede is punching his ticket to e.s.p.
It looks like Lecure is starting to right the ship a bit with his last start. Tatum seems to be heating up and will hopefully be on the other end of this list soon. Given track record and sample size, i’m not worried about Viola or Maloney.
Any thoughts on Denis Phipps? He’s off to a nice start without Szymanski like strike out numbers.
2 Doug Gray // Apr 21, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Honestly, Carroll is probably at the top of the list. His stuff should lead to success in Dayton. I haven’t seen him pitch yet, so I don’t know if its still there or not, but its a concern at this point. Pedro Viola is also a concern. He went to the AFL and got killed and hasn’t done too much better this year.
I made a note earlier that Denis Phipps has more natural athletic ability than almost everyone in the system. He is new to baseball though. If he can really start putting things together, he will be a real treat.
3 Larry // Apr 21, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Hey Doug,
Great column. Hey, do you know what’s up with Rafael Gonzalez? Any other injured Reds minor leaguers?
Thanks for the great work,
Larry
4 Doug Gray // Apr 21, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Gonzalez is actually in extended spring training right now. His mom was sick during ST and he showed up late so he could be with her.
5 pw // Apr 21, 2008 at 8:50 pm
This new feature is a great idea. I wouldn’t put him on the “stock down” list, but Frazier has certainly cooled off. Waring also.
6 Kyle // Apr 21, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Im not too worried about Frazier right now because he isn’t striking out too much. Same goes for Tatum. I think he has 11 in 45 atbats (not horrific).
Im not gonna lie, i really like this feature. Whos idea was that anyways?
I am getting anxious for the Dragons to dip into their extended spring training pool. That roster would be a lot more interesting with Mesoraco, Soto, and Lotkar on it, not too mention a certain 16 year old (not that i count on seeing him play anywhere this year).
Im not sure if ive asked this or not, but what happened to Travis Webb?
7 Doug Gray // Apr 21, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I have noticed that pw, but its just an early slump for Frazier. A 3 hit night for him and no one even notices.
I don’t think Lotzkar is going to spend time in Dayton this year. I figure with his age, the Reds really want to control his innings and they can do that by keeping him down until rookie ball starts up. I would like to see Soto and Mesoraco up though.
I am pretty sure Webb had TJ surgery this spring.
8 Kyle // Apr 21, 2008 at 10:05 pm
That would be unfortunate. The Reds have seemed to be getting good about keeping their arms healthy. Guys are always gonna get hurt though no matter how careful they are.
Im not sure if he is still a prospect. but whats wrong with mcbeth? Granted its a small sample size, but he seems to be having a rough go of it in Lousiville. it wasnt that long ago that he was a top ten prospect, but now seems to be an afterthought. maybe irrelevant, but he was one of the more friendly players i came across at redsfest.
9 Patrick Brame // Apr 22, 2008 at 8:00 am
Kyle,
I do not think anything maybe wrong with McBeth. He pitched in 5 games and only gave up runs in one game. It was 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning. He obviously did not have his stuff and was kept outthere to battle through. Right now I would chalk it up as one bad outing.
10 Ron // Apr 22, 2008 at 12:06 pm
If Thompson keeps this up, I wont get a chance to seem him when Nooga visits down here … but ya cant help but be excited by his performances. On another note, Fisher & Watson dont seem to be taking well to the bullpen. Maybe its just going to be a longer adjustment then hoped, but the early returns arent promising …
11 Kyle // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I kind of want to see Thompson go against teams twice and succeed before he moves up. I think he has atleast five starts left in Chattanooga.
12 Doug Gray // Apr 22, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I figure Thompson is in AA for a while still. There is no need to rush him. The Reds have an option in AAA if they need a starter. Its not like Thompson is the only pitching prospect above Sarasota right now, so there is no need to rush him up just yet.
13 Kyle // Apr 22, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Bailey, Thompson, and Maloney are the only ones AA and above that look like they are going to be in a big league rotation to me. Sam Lecure is close but he has a lot to prove.
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