Reds Minor League Baseball Blog

Baseball America was the first site to throw out their top Reds prospects list.  What’s most impressive about the list is how many major league ready players the Reds have at the top of their list.  There’s no surprise that Jay Bruce comes in at number one, even ahead of Homer Bailey.  Bruce had the monster season that saw him go from High A all the way to Triple A with success at every stop.  Bruce might start the season at Louisville, but I’d expect him not to be there for long.

Bailey comes in at number two and while he had a rough season last year, he had some flashes.  His time in Triple A was pretty effective but I’d still expect to find a spot in the rotation from day one this year.  Dusty Baker has a tendency to ride his starters (especially when the pen isn’t all that great) so I’d be worried about overuse.  Hopefully Bailey is handled correctly and he has a solid season in 2008.

Joey Votto comes in at three and while he’s not much of a prospect anymore, he’ll hopefully be the team’s starting first baseman.  The Reds have Scott Hatteberg for another year and if you remember way back with the Cubs, Dusty Baker kind of shut out Hee Sop Choi from finding solid playing time.  Hopefully Votto makes an immediate impact in the spring and forces the Reds hand to start him every day.

Johnny Cueto comes in at four and he’ll probably start in Louisville.  Still, this is a kid who is ready and I’d like to see him at least get a spot in the Reds bullpen.  2006 first round pick Drew Stubbs rounds out the top five and he’ll most likely start the season at Sarasota.  Devin Mesoraco, the team’s first round pick in 2007, checks in at number six.

Those top four guys though could provide a solid nucleus for the Reds for the next several years.  You just have to hope their both pan out and are used correctly.

Jason Kershner gave up two runs in the top of the tenth and that proved to be more then enough as the Bats lost 6-4 to the Braves.  A nice start by Bobby Livingston went to waste.  He gave up one run on three hits and a walk with one strikeout in six innings.

Joey Votto provided most of the offense for the Bats with a three run homer.  The long ball was his tenth of the season.  Ryan Freel went two for five and he stole two bases.

The Bats beat up on the Redwings 9-5 for their third straight win and Joey Votto and Anderson Machado led the way for the Bats at the plate.  Votto went two for four with a homerun and three RBIs wihle Machado went two for four with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.

Bobby Livingston improved to 2-4 on the season with a the win. He gave up two runs on ten hits with three strikeouts in seven innings.

Mark Bellhorn had a nice day at the plate in the Bats 5-2 win over Rochester.  He went two for four with a two run homer.  Joey Votto singled twice and he drove in two runs in the win.

Tom Shearn improved to 3-4 on the season with a nice start.  He gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.

Pedro Lopez drove in the only run of the game for the Bats in their 2-1 loss to the Knights.  Joey Votto was the only hitter with two hits in the game.

A great start by Phil Dumatrait went to waste.  He gave up just one run on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in eight innings.

The Bats lost to the Bulls 4-3 and Steven Kelly dropped to 0-4 on the season with a rough start.  He gave up four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts in five innings.

Christopher Dickerson was the hitting star in the loss.  He went three for four with a double and an RBI.  Josh Hamilton singled and drew a walk in his final rehab start and Joey Votto doubled and scored a run.

Steven Kelly gave up a solo homerun in the bottom of the tenth inning as the Bats lost to the Bulls 5-4.  Tom Shearn had a mediocre start and he gave up three runs on three hits and five walks with five strikeouts in five innings.

Jeff Keppinger went one for five but he drove in two runs.  Joey Votto had another nice game and he went three for four with two RBIs. He’s not hitting .321 on the season and he sports an impressive .942 OPS.  This kid should be in the bigs but the Reds locked up Scott Hatteberg so there’s no room for him, at least at the moment.

Phil Dumatrait had his third straight rough start and he’s dropped to 5-4 with probably his worst start of the season.  He gave up six runs on twelve hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

Joey Votto had the big hit of the game for the Bats in the 7-4 loss. He belted a three run shot to account for most of the Bats offense.

Homer Bailey had another great start and he improved to 5-1 on the season in the 4-1 win over Charlotte.  He gave up one run on five hits and struck out nine in seven quality innings.

Joey Votto singled and he drove in two runs in the win.  Christopher Dickerson was a perfect four for four with a double and he scored one of the runs.

The pen made this game interesting by giving up four eighth inning runs after the Bats took a 6-1 lead.  Still Homer Bailey picked up the win and he gave up just one run on one hit and two walks with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Earl Snyder hit a two run homer to help out the cause.  Joey Votto went two for four and he scored two runs.

Joey Votto went two for three with a grand slam and two runs in the Bats 9-6 win over the Clippers.   Edwin Encarnacion (who probably shouldn’t be at Triple A to begin with) was a perfect three for three with a homerun, two RBIs and three runs.

Tom Shern picked up the win with a solid start.  He improved to 2-2 and he gave up three runs on seven hits and four walks with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

The Bats fell behind 5-1 to the Clippers and while they made it a one run game, that’s as close as they’d get.  Aaron Herr hit a two run homer and Joey Votto hit a solo shot in the loss.  Votto was also the only Bat with three hits in the game.

Phil Dumatrait had an unusually bad loss.  He gave up five runs on nine hits and a walk with six strikeouts in six innings of work. It’s the second time in three starts that Dumatrait has given up five runs or more and hopefully he’s not falling off a cliff.  Of course in the other start, he threw six shutout innings so hopefully the real (and better) Dumatrait will establish himself in his next start.

The Bats took care of the Mud Hens today as they finished a postponed game from yesterday.  They needed a run in the ninth and then two in the elventh to seal the 5-4 win, but they got it done.  Most of the offense was provided by Edwin Encarnacion.  He went two for five with a double, a homerun and three RBIs.  Joey Votto singled twice and he scored two runs.

Tom Shearn threw six innings and he took over when things kicked off today.  He gave up three runs and he struck out five.  Jason Kershner picked up the win and he improved his record to 3-3 on the season.

The Bats got it done with the long ball in their 6-5, ten inning win over Richmond. Joey Votto finished with two doubles, a homerun and three RBIs and DeWayne Wise homered twice and scored three runs to lead the way for the Bats at the plate.

Tom Shearn was hit hard and he gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings. Wes Wilkerson struck out two and improved to 2-0 with a shutout tenth

Homer Bailey got it done today.  He gave up just one run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  It’s his second straight start where he’s given up just one run and you wonder how long he’s going to have to prove himself down here at Triple A.

The Bats scored six runs in the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie.  Joey Votto, Aaron Herr and Earl Snyder all drove in two runs in the 8-2 win.

Homer Bailey got it done and while his numbers weren’t great, he got the benefit of a ton of runs by the Bats offense.  Bailey gave up just a single run on only one hit but he walked three with four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

Joey Votto had a huge game at the plate.  He hit a grand slam and he finished with five RBIs.  Aaron Herr went three for five with a double, a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.

Three Reds minor leaguers made the cut in MiLB.com’s All NL Central prospect team.  Homer Bailey is the top right handed starting pitcher while Joey Votto (1b) and Jay Bruce (OF) also made the cut.  Not too shabby considering if they had done this a couple of years ago, there probably wouldn’t be any Reds on the list, or at most maybe one.