Monday news and notes

Usually Monday is for the Season in Review, but over the weekend my hard drive began to fail in my main computer. That leaves me stuck with an old laptop that doesn’t have access to any of my programs or data for the time being, so that is going to be pushed back a day until I get my old computer back up and running. Tony Cingrani’s 2012 Season in Review should be up tomorrow though.

First thing that I want to mention is that I want to again do a “Fan Top 10 Prospects” article. So if you want to participate, send me an email with your Top 10 Reds prospects and I will assign points for each spot and post the list later in the week (likely Friday).

Lots of actual news to talk about, though it could almost be a post about Billy Hamilton with all of the news on him over the past few days. The Bakersfield Blaze are getting a new stadium. While the Reds may not be there forever, they are there for the time being. Bakersfield’s current stadium is known to be among the worst in the minor leagues. The stadium is often pretty empty as well.

The Arizona Fall League Rising Stars game took place over the weekend. Billy Hamilton showed off a variety of skills in the game as he laid down a strong drag bunt, stole two bases and made a very nice play in center. He went 1-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs and 2 steals in the game. Curtis Partch was the other Reds participant in the game. He faced two batters and got a strikeout and a line out for a perfect outing.

Before the game Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com took a poll of the players on who will be the biggest star of those participating in the game. Billy Hamilton tied with the Mariners Mike Zunino with 5 votes each and in first place.

Jonathan Mayo has up an article on the game, highlighting Billy Hamilton.

Billy Hamilton took home TWO Minor League Baseball “Plays” of the Year when he won the fan vote for Home Run of the year with an inside the parker and Moment of the Year with his record breaking steal. No other Red won an award, though Tony Cingrani and Didi Gregorius were each nominated for awards.

If you are like me and have a calendar, write this date down: January 9th. That is the day that Baseball America will release the Reds Top 10. It is a long ways off though, which does stink.

Richard Justice at Reds.com talks about how the Reds could potentially accelerate the timetable for Billy Hamilton. He uses guys like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Mike Trout as examples of other prospects who were pushed quickly and succeeded. Unfortunately that logic is a stretch because those guys have offensive games that are built entirely different than that of Hamilton. Those guys are power hitters, where as Hamilton is about as opposite of that as possible. The Reds team is going to be very strong next season as is. They have the benefit of taking their time with Hamilton, sending him to AAA to work on his offensive game (re: cut down on the strikeouts) and better hone his skills at a new defensive position. If he goes to AAA and shows he made those adjustments quickly, you can always promote him to the Majors quickly.

Here is an update on the guys playing Winter Ball

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