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    Reds MiLB Notebook: 1st rounders McLain, Hendrick out to fast starts

    Doug Gray 18

    It was a heck of a week for the last two 1st round draft picks of the Cincinnati Reds. Matt McLain capped off his week by hitting for the cycle, while Austin Hendrick homered twice for Daytona.

    The headline is slightly misleading. In the first three games of the season, 2020 1st round pick Austin Hendrick went 0-11 and had eight strikeouts. It was not a fast start to the season. But since then he’s gone off, going 7-14 with just three strikeouts while hitting three home runs. The first full series of the season going so well has helped him to a .280/.438/.680 line with seven walks in seven games played.

    We’re dealing with a small sample size here of just seven games, it’s nice to see Hendrick out to a nice start after all of the struggles he had last season with Daytona when he hit .211 with 100 strikeouts in 63 games played.

    Much like things with Hendrick, Matt McLain started the season a bit slow. He went 0-7 in the first two games with four strikeouts. But since then he’s been on fire, going 11-25 with just four strikeouts while picking up nine extra-base hits. He capped off a big series against the Birmingham Barons by hitting for the cycle on Sunday.

    McLain, the Reds 2021 1st round pick, has been moved very quickly. After seeing action with Dayton in the final month of the season after the year he was pushed to Double-A to begin his first full season and he hasn’t disappointed. He’s currently hitting .344/.400/.875 through the first eight games of the year.

    Highlight Videos of the Week

    Yerlin Confidan

    Triples are always fun to see, but the one hit by Yerlin Confidan this week against Palm Beach was crazy. The shortstop thought he had a chance to catch this line drive that wound up as a triple….

    Came off the bat at 101.3 MPH and then went over the shortstop and split the left-center gap. Confidan went home to third in 12.04 seconds on the play.

    Michael Siani

    Not sure anyone is out to a better start in the Reds farm system this season than Siani is. And on Wednesday he picked up four hits and drove in four runs.

    He’s reached base in seven of the eight games he’s played in and reached base at least twice in six of them. The center fielder has put up a .370/.514/.630 line with eight walks and just five strikeouts so far this season.

    Ronnie Dawson

    Louisville is the only team on the farm to play two full weeks this season since Triple-A got a bit of a head start this year on the other leagues. Ronnie Dawson has gotten out to a nice start for the Bats, picking up six extra-base hits in 12 games so far – including three homers.

    He homered twice in the last week while in Omaha, including a 443-foot home run to center on Tuesday night right before rain came on and suspended the rest of the game until Wednesday. He would add another home run on Thursday, pulling one down the line before it bounced off of the roof of the building beyond the outfield berm.

    Andrew Abbott

    Cincinnati’s 2nd round pick last summer, Andrew Abbott put together his best professional start this past week. Taking on Lake County on Saturday in the second game of a double header the lefty struck out 10 batters in 5.0 shutout innings.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    18 Responses

    2. Yea small sample sizes for sure.
      Siani interesting enough only little older then Mclain.
      So hope both keep it up.
      Both with tools each have, could be quite Helpful.
      Hendrick had me down for a 1st rd Pick.
      But then remember only 20 and all Players devlp differently.

    3. I have Siani, Hendrick and McClain both penciled into my 2024 Reds Starting Lineup. That’s also the year the Reds will finally be rid of Votto and Moose’s contract.

      That’s basically the year that the Reds fan will have to be shooting for. It’s gonna be a lot of pain for the next 2 years.

    4. Have gotten to know a lot of first round picks over the years in Dayton. There is a great deal of additional pressure on them and they all seem to handle it differently. I imagine Hendrick was carrying a refrigerator on his back last year.

    5. Should add Confidan to that list of potential outfield starters as well as Delacruz . Seems as if India will end up at 3B , Barrero at SS and McClain at 2B . May need to consider moving someone to 1B by 2024. Perhaps Hedrick or Siani.

      Abbott , Greene, Lodolo, and Williamson are the young pitchers you hope to see by 2024

      1. I highly doubt that Siani is going to move to first base. He is one of, if not the best, defensive outfielders in org. He could be special in CF.

      2. I’m thinking de la Cruz to first still reminds me of a young Sano. Regular US eats are going to build the boy out.

        1. If the Dodgers can play an athlete like Cody Bellinger at both 1B and CF, shouldn’t be any reason we can’t, especially with the middle infielders pushing up through the system.

        2. I’d hate to see Cruz at 1B, he’s a true 5 Tool player. I still like him as the SS, if it’s not open, his speed and arm could put him in CF or RF.

    6. Time to move McClain along if he comes anywhere close to maintaining his current productivity. As for Siani, I thought past scouting and projection systems had him as fast with good defensive skills but suspect hitting?

      1. Sinai’s hitting has just shown flashes so far in pro ball. His shoulder injury last season I think held it back and (Doug may disagree) I find he’s been streaky. Big peaks and valleys. Developing Siani into a serviceable ML outfielder will really help while waiting for the talent lower down in the system to get here.

      2. Yes, if McLain is able to keep producing, hopefully it won’t take long to promote him. Yesterday I posted move him up to the Reds now, but i know that’s an over eager sentiment. I do think a promotion to AAA is warranted if he’s still hot a month in. It’s still fast, but he’s a college bat, with a high floor. Let’s see what the kid’s got.

    7. Sir Doug, this feature with video is by far my favorite discussion day of the week, and it doesn’t hurt that MiLB doesn’t play on Mondays. Kudos, once again.

      1. Yeah – it’s a fun little thing to do on an off day. I’m hoping to also turn every other Tuesday into the longest homers kind of thing. Unfortunately getting the information hasn’t been as easy this year as it was in the past. There have been 4 home runs hit in Chattanooga that the camera person had no clue where the ball was. That’s nearly half of the home runs hit at home so far. Then there’s the part where Dayton’s been in Lake County this past week where there was no video and they hit four home runs so we’ve got no data there, either. Of the 31 homers on the farm this season I’m missing data on 10 of them. So I’ll probably wait until next week to bring that one back so we’ve got a little more data to work with.

        1. It’s also bout time for my plug of an All Questions Answered session, too, by the way.

          1. Funny enough it is on my calendar for today to create a patreon post asking for questions for one

    8. Confidan will be interesting to watch this year, to see if hitting in the FSL suppresses his power and how he deals with that. Line drives whistling by SS’s ears are a good start, though. Big, big arm, perfect for RF, but I have a hard time getting a read on his athleticism. He looked good running on this triple, but other video has showed him with less speed. To be continued.

    9. Interesting to see (unsigned) Reds draftee, Tommy Mace (what 6’5″?), pitching to Elly.

      I wonder if Abbott will be moved quickly given his college experience as a reliever before starting his last year. He doesn’t really profile as a reliever in the current game and the idea of Lodolo, Williamson and Abbott in a rotation is interesting.

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