Stock Up
Daryl Thompson - Still the fastest riser in the system. Every start he makes and shows he is for real is just more prospects he gets. Both his ERA and Whip are under 0.90 still.
Keltavious Jones - Continues to hit. He doesn’t strike out much, puts the ball in play often, has plenty of speed.
Luis Montano - Going 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP will almost certainly improve your stock. While he doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, he has a real good slider that keeps hitters off balance to go with his good control.
Matt Klinker - The local product started the year on the DL but has played in 4 games with a 2.49 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.
Enerio Del Rosario - Another Dragons pitcher who has been on fire. Rosario has a 1.35 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP.
Chris Valaika - He is tearing through the Florida State League. He is the only hitter in the league with an OPS over .950 and he is sporting a 1.017 OPS while leading the league in hits (by 10!), HR, RBI, TB’s, SLG and AVG. Its only a matter of time until he gets to Chattanooga.
Justin Turner - Hitting .359 and boasting an .868 OPS as a second baseman in the FSL is going to raise some eyebrows if he keeps it up.
Jordan Smith - Being 5-1 with a 1.60 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and just 1 HR allowed in 39.1 innings is keeping Smith on the up trend for as long as he keeps it up.
Ramon Geronimo - 0.00 and 0.51 are the two numbers we need to know with Geronimo. That is his ERA and his WHIP through 13 games and 15.2 innings. He has allowed 5 hits, 3 walks and had 21 strikeouts. While he is old for the league, his dominance simply can’t be overlooked.
Robert Manuel - 17 innings, no runs allowed, 5 walks and 23 strikeouts will get you onto this list.
Shaun Cumberland - 14 walks and 12 strikeouts to go with a 1.061 OPS in AA as a 23 year old. Anyone doing that is going to warrant some serious following.
Sean Henry - After a quick promotion to AA to fill in for Danny Dorn he seemingly has earned a stay after hitting .340/.404/.640 over 15 games.
Danny Herrera - 1.82 ERA and a sub 1.00 WHIP between AA and AAA also will get you a mention on this list. While not very overpowering at all, he is getting the job done big time.
Stock Down
Justin Reed - The 4th round draft pick from 2006 has a .631 OPS and is striking out in 31.8% of his plate appearances. He is real fast, but needs to make more contact.
Brett Bartles - The Duke product is hitting .186/.286/.256 in partial playing time.
Juan Francisco - A 9 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio and a sub .300 on base percentage isn’t promising even with all of the power he does have.
Sean Watson - Still has an ERA near 8 and a WHIP over 2. He does have 15 strikeouts in 11.1 innings, but also has allowed 4 HR and walked 10 batters.
Jose Castro - Hitting just .250/.304/.344 at shortstop could push him into a backup role soon.
The Chattanooga Bullpen - Carlos Fisher, Josh Roenicke, Derrik Lutz and Pedro Viola were all very good prospects coming into the season. Currently their WHIP’s are 1.40, 1.92, 1.95 and 2.25 a month into the season.
Sam Lecure - 20 walks and 17 strikeouts in 26.1 innings is never a good sign. Lecure’s stock is certainly slipping.
Chris Dickerson - Hitting .242/.342/.337 isn’t looking so good, especially after he hit .260/.361/.435 last year in Louisville. While Dickerson still plays great defense, his bat needs to wake up.
Adam Rosales - He has a .611 OPS on the season. He has a 4 game hitting streak a walk and no strikeouts over that time. He isn’t that bad of a hitter, so expect a turn around. Still, with this start, he is slipping.
Monday, 5. May 2008
Thanks, Doug. This is a ray of sunshine with the way the big club is playing.
Monday, 5. May 2008
Hows Devin Mesoraco, Neftali Soto and Kyle Lotzkar doing in extended spring trainging?
Monday, 5. May 2008
Josh,
I haven’t heard much on any of those guys in the past two weeks, so I couldn’t really tell you much other than how they were 2 weeks ago.
Monday, 5. May 2008
About Mesoraco… this from John Fay’s blog:
“He’s been good,” player development director Terry Reynolds said. “He’s hitting, hitting with power. His catching’s getting better. He’s doing all the things we expected him to.”
Mesoraco will be assigned to either Single-A Dayton or Rookie Billings.
Monday, 5. May 2008
I guess the plan for Mesoraco was to get him a half season in the developement league before shipping him off to Rookie ball. I’d have still liked to gotten him in some games before then.
Monday, 5. May 2008
Can’t argue with your choices. If you had to add another guy to stock falling i might suggest Jerry Gil. He showed some real promise in spring training yet finds himself demoted within the first month of the season. That Lousiville outfield as a whole has been dissapointing in my opinion.
Monday, 5. May 2008
I have heard rumors about Mesoraco being in Dayton by June…. but those are just rumors.
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
With Louisville’s outfield struggling somewhat, how long until Cumberland gets a chance to move up? And, how soon can we expect Valaika to move to Chattanooga? Sarasota’s league is supposed to be extra tough on hitters yet Valaika and Turner are consistently tearing it up. Don’t we need to see how Valaika can do against tougher competition?
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
How much do you think the change in GM’s is holding up promotions?
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Aaron,
I would give Cumberland another month at least. He has never come close to hitting like this anywhere. He has always had the tools to be a good player but had never really put it all together.
As for Valaika, I would promote him yesterday but I really don’t think it will be much longer. Its his second go around in Sarasota and he is absolutely killing it. Turner, probably not until at least mid season. Its his first go around.
PW,
Honestly, not too much I would guess. Everyone else is still in place, so they know who is doing what and who is capable of what.
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Doug, good point on Cumberland….and I would guess the same would go for Henry. However, aren’t these both acquisitions that Krivsky has made in the last year or so? If you are able, it would be great to see where they fit, if at all, on your top 40 list…..and to see a profile of them as players.
I agree about Valaika and Turner. I guess it is conceivable, if Valaika continued like this in Chattanooga, he might even get to Louisville by the year’s end. Not trying to jump too far ahead but he has certainly shown (except for last season) a propensity to be an excellent hitter. Do you think they will keep him at SS? If not, where do you move him?
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
I may have a new Top 40 list at mid season. I would say both are still in the 30’s for me until I see more. Cumberland ahead of Henry though.
From things I have read, Valaika has improved a little bit at SS, and while he isn’t ever going to be a GG guy there, he has a chance to stick there. While I am not saying it will happen, the odds do sound a little better than they once did.
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Would any of the instructional league guys get consideration? The Reds have a talented squad down there.
Devin Mesoraco, Neftali Soto, Evan Hildenbrandt, Jordan Wideman, Kyle Lotzkar, Josh Ravin, Juan Duran.
Could you see the Reds putting Lotzkar on a Casey Kiker kind of path this year?
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Okay….separate issue: have you heard ANY trade rumors as far as any players the Reds might have interest in? It just seems this roster is so imbalanced that they would be exploring options.
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Kyle,
Wideman is the only one of that group who wouldn’t be in my current top 40. I am not sure what they do with Lotzkar this year.
Aaron,
Not really. With the GM turnover I have no clue. When Wayne was running things they were looking at Gerald Laird, although that was widely known.
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Doug,
I read about 3 days ago that the Rangers offered Laird to 3 teams, the Reds being one of them but all three teams refused the deal. Interesting, huh?
Tuesday, 6. May 2008
Maybe the Rangers were asking too much. They are known to do that from time to time.