The Lookouts Roster is in and it looks like this:

Starting rotation

• Sam Lecure
• Ben Jukich
• Daryl Thompson
• James Avery
• Justin Mallett

Bullpen

• Carlos Fisher
• Danny Herrera
• Justin James
• Derrik Lutz
• Ramon Ramirez
• Josh Roenicke
• Pedro Viola

Infielders

• Jose Castro
• Drew Anderson
• Tonys Gutierrez
• Luis Bolivar
• Eric Eymann
• Michael Griffin

Outfielders

• Cody Strait
• Danny Dorn
• Shaun Cumberland
• BJ Szymanski

Catchers

• Craig Tatum
• Chris Kroski

Familiar Look

Nearly all of these guys were with Chattanooga last year. The guys who surprised me to still be with them were most notably Josh Roenicke and Sam Lecure. Roenicke spent just 19 innings in Chattanooga last year but they were quite good (0.95 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP) as well as a strong spring with the Reds (6ip, 4h, 3bb, 7K, 0.00 ERA). Lecure spent some time on the DL last season, but when he was with the Lookouts he performed decently well (110 innings, 104 strikeouts, 46 walks) and I figured he would head to Louisville with that.

Players to watch

Pitcher - Derrik Lutz

He may not be the best prospect the Reds have or even the best relief prospect, but he has an ability to induce ground balls and a whole lot of them. He began the season in Chattanooga last year, but only as an injury fill in and was sent to Sarasota after a few games.

Hitter - Craig Tatum (Photo: Tim Evearitt)

He could be the Reds future at catcher. His defense is already there and his bat showed lots of potential in Sarasota but he struggled a some upon his arrival to Chattanooga. If he can get his bat going in the right direction again his development could be huge for the Reds.

The rosters aren’t close to being out yet, so this is all assumption on my part on who will be on the roster. I am going to list 4 players to watch for each team (assuming they are assigned where I believe they will be assigned) and give a quick reason or two to really watch this guy.

1. Craig Tatum - C (Photo: MWLguide.com/Flickr)

Reason to watch - Tatum isn’t the best catcher in the system, but he is a solid prospect at a higher level. He hit very well in the FSL last year before his promotion to Chattanooga where he struggled a bit with his hitting (although he did improve his walk rate dramatically).  If Tatum can have a solid season he could be in the big league plans soon.

2. Danny Dorn - OF 

Reason to watch - Dorn lit Chattanooga on fire last year, but it was in just 90 at bats in the last month of the season. He is likely to start in Chattanooga against. With the contract status of our current corner outfielders, if Dorn can continue his production up the ladder he could really help solve a problem if the Reds don’t sign anyone. He struggles against lefties, so hopefully we can see an improvement there, but he kills righties so maybe it won’t matter much.

3. Daryl Thompson - RHP

Reason to watch - After pitching very well in Sarasota last year Thompson came into spring training and got into a few games in spring training with the Reds this year. He struck out 4 batters, walked none and allowed no hits in 2.1 innings. The jump to AA is supposed to be one of the biggest in baseball. Thompson could become a legit option with a strong season for the Lookouts.

4. Derrik Lutz - RHP

Reason to watch - Lutz is one of the Reds many solid bullpen prospects throughout the system. He is an extreme ground ball pitcher who also gets a solid number of strikeouts. He began last year in AA, but it was only as a fill in. This year he will start there and for good reason. Like Thompson, if he can make the jump to AA and perform well it would just help bolster the Reds options heading into 2009 in free agency for the bullpen which very soon could feature a whole lot of younger guys produced through the system.

Yesterday I covered the Sarasota Reds and Monday I touched on the Dayton Dragons. Tomorrow I will preview the Louisville Bats and on Friday will cover some of the guys who weren’t listed with a team for different reasons.

Given the Reds ballpark being a home run heaven for hitters, getting pitchers that induce ground balls is generally a good thing (lets just pretend the Kirk Saarloos experiment never happened). I went through and ran tons of data through www.firstinning.com and checked out the groundball percentage on most of our relievers with a decent sample size to work with. I came down to the top three guys in ground ball percentage and it worked out that all three are some of the better relievers we have.

Derrik Lutz, drafted in 2006 out of George Washington University, led the way with inducing groundballs. The right hander turned 60% of the balls in play against him into ground balls. On top of that, he also was striking out a solid 19% of the batters he was facing.

Josh Roenicke, the Reds best relief prospect, is not just a guy who can throw 98 MPH but he also gets a ton of groundballs. Last season split between Sarasota and Chattanooga the UCLA product turned 55% of the balls in play against him into grounders. To top that off, he also struck out 29% of the batters he faced last season, which when coupled with his groundball rate is a very strong combination.

Tyler Pelland began the year as a starter, but was quickly transitioned into a reliever where he had quick success. The lefty split time in Chattanooga and Louisville. Pelland also is a hard thrower out of the bullpen, although with a little less velocity topping out around 95 MPH. The former starter turned 50% of the balls in play against him into groundballs while also striking out 25% of the hitters that stepped to the plate against him.

Tomorrow I will look at the starting pitchers to see how they fare in churning out groundballs.