Chris Valaika will represent the Reds on the US Team. Below are his stats:
Hitting .311/.361/.487 between Sarasota and Chattanooga this year with 11 HR, 18 doubles and 41 RBI.
Juan Francisco will represent the Reds on the World Team. His stats are below:
Hitting .271/.288/.455 with 21 doubles, 2 triples, 10 HR and 47 RBI for the Sarasota Reds.
Ok, so not quite but the Sarasota Reds are putting up some impressive team numbers. They are currently tied for first place in the league at 14-11. On the hitting side as a team they lead the league in runs, hits, doubles, RBI, slugging percentage and OPS. They are second in steals and on base percentage. As a team they have 30 steals and just 3 caught stealings. Thats incredible.
As for individual guys on the team, they have 3 of the top 4 batting average leaders in the league with (Photo: Jerry Hale) Chris Valaika (.389), Justin Turner (.384) and Drew Stubbs (.348). Stubbs leads the league in runs scored and Chris Heisey is just 1 behind him. Juan Francisco, Drew Stubbs and Chris Heisey all rank in the top 5 in doubles in the league. Chris Valaika and Juan Francisco both are in the top 5 in the league in HR’s and they rank 1 and 2 in RBI. Drew Stubbs leads the league in steals. Justin Turner and Drew Stubbs are both in the top 5 in on base percentage. Chris Valaika and Drew Stubbs both rank in the top 5 in the league in slugging percentage and rank first and second in OPS.
The pitching staff on the flip side isn’t the best around. They rank in the top 5 in the league categories in just strikeouts. Hmmm maybe that Big Red Machine thing does stick a little bit. Jordan Smith and Travis Wood have pitched fine out of the rotation for the Reds. Smith ranks in the top 5 in the league in wins and innings. Wood ranks 7th in the league in strikeouts and both have ERA’s under 2.70. Out of the bullpen Ramon Geronimo has been absolutely dominant. He has pitched 13.2 innings and allowed just 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 18 batters and not allowing a run yet. Robert Manuel has also pitched well. He has thrown 7.2 innings, struck out 11 without allowing a run and posted a WHIP of 1.04.
John Sickels had a question and answer session yesterday on his site. 1 question per user so I took my question and asked this:
Doug - So far this season he has sat 90-94 MPH with his FB and hit as high as 97 MPH. If he has turned a corner in terms of his FB after recovering from his shoulder surgery, how legit of a prospect can he become?
Sickels - I have liked Thompson since he was in high school: I Shadow-drafted him for my fake Twins farm system. If he’s fully healthy and can sustain that velocity, he could end up being an impressive pitcher…number 3 starter possibly. That’s a big if and assumes durability which he has not shown to this point. He might end up as a really good short reliever.
I tend to agree with him. Thompson has the chance to be someone real good for the team, but he needs to really show that he can do it for a full season and maintain his stuff throughout. So far, it is looking really good though.
Yesterday the first Baseball America Hot Sheet came out and like I noted, Daryl Thompson was nowhere to be found despite a very impressive line. I talked to him briefly about it and here is what he had to say on Thompson:
We’ll definitely be trying to track down more on Thompson…If he actually hit 97 that would be the best velocity we’ve ever heard about from him pre- or post-surgery. My sense is that with two Reds in the top five it was hard to get a third Red on…but if he keeps it up he’ll be there. Heck, Brandon Waring and even Juan Francisco were candidates as well…Reds have a number of guys producing right now.
I think we will be hearing more about Thompson from around the prospecting world soon enough if he continues.
Homer Bailey is getting some praise from former teammate Chad Moeller. There have been times in the past where Moeller, while a teammate of Bailey would not say a lot about him and C Trent Rosecrans made note that you could tell a lot by what Moeller wouldn’t say. Here is what Moeller had to say in The Citizens Voice about Bailey in his last start:
“I caught him some last year and that’s the best I’ve seen him,” Moeller said. “Command, velocity, his fastball was kind of cutting across the strike zone. That was a different pitcher than I saw last year.”
I watched the game and Moeller is telling the truth. His velocity wasn’t as high as it has been in the past, but still was good as he got up to 96 MPH. Bailey has been working on a cut fastball and a slider along with his mechanics this year, it looks like they are beginning to pay off.
After a week of the season in the books I sat down today and got the first podcast of the season done. Its my first one ever, so its bound to be a little rough. It is 30 minutes long and 14.5 MB in size.
Topics discussed include:
Pitching prospects Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey, Daryl Thompson, Travis Wood and more.
Hitters Todd Frazier, Brandon Waring, Juan Francisco, Chris Valaika, Adam Rosales, Jay Bruce and more.
Have the Reds been too cautious with the placement of their prospects?
Juan Duran could play this year
Ben Badler at Baseball America says that Juan Duran (Photo creating by reader Tom) could spend some time in the GCL this year, but right now is dealing with an elbow injury. The GCL uses a DH, so getting at bats shouldn’t be a problem.
Peek at the Draft
Jim Callis, also of Baseball America does a brief little rundown of who/why the Reds should draft in June. He eventually comes to the point where he thinks they end up with a right handed pitcher at #7.
Opening Week of the Minors
The opening week is now over after 4 games for the teams. All of the teams are 2-2 except Dayton who fell to 1-3 in the opening week. There were some guys who had real good weeks. Drew Stubbs (who I plan on writing something on this week) leads the FSL in walks after 1 week. Juan Francisco has a nice even 1.000 OPS. Tom Shearn and Tyler Pelland took a no hitter into the final inning of a double header before Ricky Stone allowed a hit. Todd Frazier has a 6-1 walk to strikeout ratio and is boasting a 1.316 OPS. BJ Szymanski has absolutely killed the ball so far this year with a double, triple and 2 HR in just 12 at bats. Daryl Thompson made a strong debut for Chattanooga with 6 innings and 5 strikeouts. Jerry Hairston and Jolbert Cabrera have killed the ball down in Louisville as both have OPS’s over 1.100. Homer Bailey walked just 1 batter in 7 innings in the season opener and threw just 83 pitches.
The Enquirer ran a whole bunch of short articles on prospects so there is a lot of articles, but not a lot to most of them.
John Fay wrote one on the Young Arms. He touches on the recent history of the Reds pitching prospects.
John also wrote about the 4 young third basemen in the system. He has a few notes on Todd Frazier, Juan Francisco, Adam Rosales and Brandon Waring. Terry Reynolds provides the small blurbs on each player.
John Fay also has an article about stockpiling young talent in the system. Terry Reynolds has one of my favorite sayings about the draft in this article.
“You try to pick out who you think has the highest ceiling based on the tools. When you try to draft for need, you get in trouble.”
Jeff Brantley wrote ’scouting reports’ on Cueto, Volquez and Bailey. He actaully has scouting reports on Cueto (Photo: Tim Evearitt/The Chattanoogan) and Volquez but like I have noticed, he seems to have something against Homer Bailey. For the other two, he lists pitches they throw and how they throw them. For Bailey he doesn’t list any pitches, talks about his fastball, dogs his curveball for not being a short breaking one (despite the fact that he has gotten plenty of good hitters swinging and missing or standing there looking at it all spring) and doesn’t mention his changeup that has looked promising this spring or his slider or cutter that he has been working on this spring.
Shannon Russell wrote an article on the Young Bats in the system. It talks about batting average way too much as a way to determine a good hitter for my liking but talks about the impact Votto and Bruce could have on the team.
David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press has an article up on Drew Stubbs(Photo: MWLGuide.com). Here are some of the highlights from the article:
“I’ve had a pretty good spring, and if I can keep up the things I’ve been doing and build off that, I think I’ll be there before too long,” Stubbs said. “Being consistent in all phases of the game is the main thing. Rather than being great a few days of the week, I need to be good every day. That’s my goal.”
“I’ve played a couple of intrasquad games against him, and he looked pretty good,” new Lookouts manager Mike Goff said. “He’s very talented physically, and he’s a guy I’m hoping before the year is over that we’ll see in Chattanooga.”
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. Travis Wood - LHP
Reason to watch - Coming into 2007, Wood was one of the Reds top ranked prospects after having a successful season in Dayton. He however ran into arm problems during the season and was shut down. He is back and pitching well this spring. If Wood can pitch to his potential, he will be one more reason that the Reds can claim to have lots of depth in one of the better systems in all of baseball.
2. Todd Frazier - SS
Reason to watch - Frazier was taken in last years supplemental first round and came onto the scene just hitting like we expected in Billings. He brings an advanced approach to the plate and should be able to handle the jump from Billings to Sarasota just fine. He won’t likely stick at SS, but will play there for now.
3. Scott Carroll - RHP
Reason to watch - Last years 3rd round pick was taken care of with kid gloves last year after being drafted. He only pitched 15 innings in Billings. He will be 23 years old this season but has quality stuff and it will be his first real test of pro ball.
4. Juan Francisco - 3B
Reason to watch - Francisco has plenty of power at the plate and he plays a solid 3B, but there are some questions about his plate discipline and his strikeouts. If he doesn’t get his walk rate up some and try to cut down on his strikeouts, his development will be slowed. Sarasota is a big step for him, lets hope his aggressiveness has calmed a little bit and hopefully it will lead to a big season.
Yesterday I covered the Dayton Dragons and tomorrow I will cover the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Sorry about the updates, my Chicago trip was actually pushed back until Thursday so I have been gone the past two days and have a little catching up to do.
Spring Training Game Review 3/13/08
Adam Rosales went 2-2 with an RBI and a double.
Drew Anderson (OF) went 0-1 with a walk.
Joey Votto went 0-2.
Jay Bruce went 0-2.
Chris Dickerson went 1-2 with a run.
Spring Training Game Review 3/14/08 vs Pirates
Chris Dickerson went 0-2.
Sean Henry went 1-1 with a walk in his spring debut for the Reds.
Luis Bolivar went 0-2.
Michael Griffin went 1-1 with a walk and a run.
Adam Rosales went 1-2 with a run.
Chris Valaika went 1-2 with a run in his spring debut.
Jay Bruce went 2-3 (now hitting .313).
Jerry Gil went 0-1.
Marcus McBeth went a perfect inning with a strikeout.
Brad Salmon struck out the side while mixing in a walk in his inning of work.
Tom Shearn allowed a hit in a scoreless inning of work.
Spring Training Game Review 3/14/08 vs Yankees
Paul Janish went 0-1 with a walk.
Drew Anderson (OF) went 0-1.
Drew Stubbs went 0-1 with a run scored.
Joey Votto went 1-3.
Justin Turner went 0-1 with a run scored in his spring debut.
Ryan Hanigan went 1-3.
Juan Francisco went 1-2 with a run, RBI and a double.
Josh Roenicke and Pedro Viola each pitched a perfect inning of relief.
Daryl Thompson pitched a perfect 1.1 innings with a strikeout.
Roster Moves
Paul Janish and Chris Dickerson were optioned to AAA and Justin Lehr was reassigned to Minor League camp.
News
Tomorrow should be a solid update of lots of articles and some updates on some minor leaguers and how they are doing in their spring training.
Reds.com has up an interview with Jay Bruce. It basically revolves around his hopes heading into Spring Training and winning the starting job in center.
John Erardi also has an interview with Bruce up on the Enquirer site. Its much better than the first one is and deals with more than just expectations this year.
Juan Francisco (pictured) was playing for the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Winter League through the finals. Francisco went 2-5 with 2 RBI in the Championship clinching game.
Jonathon Mayo talks about Johnny Cueto briefly during an interview on MLB Radio. Mayo also notes that the A’s are currently asking for the moon in the trade rumors.
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