Kevin Goldstein has up his Reds top 20 prospects over at Baseball Prospectus, with Billy Hamilton coming in at #1. I just can’t see it, especially after reading the write up on Hamilton and I am more confident in his defense at shortstop than the reports he has gotten are. JC Sulbaran came in at #6 on his list, which I can almost get understand if we are talking true upside. I want to see more in the control department with him, but he was strong there late in the year and the stuff is there. Kyle Waldrop at #13 was the big surprise for me. I like Waldrop’s tools, more than Baseball America had in their Pioneer League write up for sure (where he was 19th), but didn’t expect him to be this high on the rankings either. Go check it all out though, Kevin does good work.
Redleg Nation has up their latest podcast and it features Tucker Barnhart. Go give it a listen, immediately.
The Reds made two signings yesterday. The first was Dioner Navarro, to a minor league deal. The second was for Ryan Ludwick to a MLB deal. Navarro is going to serve as insurance and likely split time with Corky Miller in Louisville. He hasn’t hit in three years, posting just a .207/.267/.311 since being an All-Star in 2008. He did hit in 2010 while in AAA. He draws walks and doesn’t swing and miss a lot, but he hasn’t really hit much despite that. Ludwick is on an MLB deal, and he has gotten on base a little bit in his career, but he hasn’t hit much since the All-Star break in 2010. Assuming he is a back up, I don’t dislike the deal.
Baseball America’s “Ask BA” column went up yesterday and one question asked was to name their preseason 2012 Rookie Team. The Reds landed three players on the list and one former Red. Former Red Yonder Alonso was the first baseman on the team, while Zack Cozart was the shortstop on the team, Todd Frazier was the third baseman and Devin Mesoraco was the catcher. Pretty strong representation there for the Reds.
There was also a huge signing that was overlooked that gives the Reds the best quartet in baseball…. of mustaches. Clay Zavada signed with the Reds and that couples him with Corky Miller, Sam LeCure and of course, this guy. So, I mustache this question, can any team in baseball top that?
Tom Nichols has up a News & Notes article up on DaytonDragons.com with a player spotlight on Robert Maddox as well as some other notes.
The Billings Mustangs have released their schedule. You can check it out here if you would like. If Idaho Falls has games streaming on Milb.tv (best money I spend each year) once again this season, mark these dates on your calendar: August 24, 25 and 26. The Mustangs will be making the trip there and their games are not archived (or at least weren’t this past season) so you will need to be watching those live if you are interested in seeing them play.
Speaking of the Mustangs, they will be wearing a commemorative patch this season to celebrate 60 years of existence (of course, as the article notes, it hasn’t been 60 consecutive years as there were some years since their initial debut in 1948 that they didn’t have a team).