Lets start with the updates from Friday nights game. Here is how the prospects performed:
- Chris Heisey went 1-1 with a 2 run HR.
- Juan Francisco went 0-0 with a walk.
- Matt Maloney allowed a run in 2 innings with 3 strikeouts.
Good to see Francisco display some patience. I have seen flashes of him understanding the strikezone in the past. I hope we start to see him trending in the right direction this season.
Mark Sheldon looks at Matt Maloney’s chances at maybe making the team in the bullpen. Dusty had this to say after todays performance.
“We haven’t decided on Maloney yet,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said on Friday afternoon. “Would he be better in the bullpen or is he still in the running yet? We’re trying to decide that.”
I think it would be a waste of Maloney as he is a guy who can give you 180-200 innings out of the #5 spot if you needed it. I am also not too sure how well his stuff would play up out of the bullpen.
I added a few videos on the RedsMinorLeagues youtube page from spring training that were reader submitted from spring training. Daryl Thompson is pitching live batting practice and Aroldis Chapman pitching vs the Brewers.
Corey Brinn also has up some video on his site, of Chase Weems, Larkin helping out some youngsters, Jeff Jeffords and Yen-Wen Kuo from spring training.
John Fay has up his take on the 5th starter spot. He thinks its going to come down to Chapman, Wood and Lehr. Fay also has a little bit on Ben Jukich being returned to the Reds.
Rumors from spring training that I heard yesterday: Yorman Rodriguez could very well be heading to Dayton at the start of the year. It also looks like they are trying out Brian Pearl as a starting pitcher. Very interesting move there. Pearl showed an excellent fastball last season and his numbers in Billings were very good as he struck out 43 batters in 28.2 innings (34.3% of the batters he faced).
Got my hands on some video of Juan Duran from spring training and timed him from home to first base at 4.16, which is above average speed. Considering how tall he is, its borderline incredible. He may have had a poor season last year, but I can fully understand why scouts still like him.