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.