Lorenzo Cedrola picked up three more hits in Louisville’s win and is now batting .429 in August, Thomas Farr’s turn around continued as he struck out seven batters for Dayton, Yerlin Confidan homered on rehab out in Arizona as the ACL Reds moved to 29-16 on the season, and Khristian Guevara struck out six batters for the DSL Reds.

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The Louisville Bats won 11-3. Box Score

The Chattanooga Lookouts were postponed

Doubleheader on Thursday

The Dayton Dragons lost 4-2. Box Score

The Daytona Tortugas lost 7-6 in 10. Box Score

The ACL Reds won 6-2. Box Score

The DSL Reds lost 2-1. Box Score

8/17 Game Preview

Team Record Time (ET) Probable Box Score Listen Watch
Louisville 47-65 6:35pm Williamson Here Here Here
Chattanooga 47-61 7:35pm Spiers Here Here Here
Dayton 51-56 6:35pm Petty Here Here Here
Daytona 42-64 7:05pm Parks Here Here N/A
ACL Reds 29-16 OFF DAY Here N/A N/A
DSL Reds
22-24 11:00am TBA Here N/A N/A

37 Responses

  1. Bdh

    Saw a video of Confidan’s HR and it looked like a nice shot! He also threw out a runner at 3rd today. I know I’m a lot higher on him than most but I think he’s going to be a big league regular at some point. He’d be in Dayton by now as a 19 year old if not for the injury earlier this year

    • DaveCT

      I don’t think you are off at all. He tore up AZ last year, and he has been hurt this year. Unless he’s had some highly traumatic injury (he hasn’t), there is no reason to believe the tools he had a year ago are not still there. So I don’t think it’s much of being higher on Confidan or not. He’s still a prospect, albeit with some serious competition within the system.

  2. Bdh

    Also wanted to comment that it’s been 5 nice starts in a row for Farr. He was really the only pitcher from last years draft who stuck out in a bad way about a month ago and he’s really turned it around since then.

    And with that point it should be noted that the reds really did well drafting pitchers in 2021 and early returns on the 2022 pitchers look good so far as well. I know it’s only been a week but has any of the 2022 draft pitchers even gave up an earned run yet?

    • DaveCT

      Farr was one of the missing pieces from the 21 draft to be successful, so it’s great to see him string together some success and, hopefully, enough to finish the year well.

  3. Billy

    I know the Reds really remade their farm system with all the trades, and development is the goal in the minors, but is anyone else concerned about how bad the minor league teams are? All four of the full season teams are currently in last place. Not only that, but three are the worst teams in their league by record currently (for second half, where relevant). I’m not saying they should be worried about winning championships, but I do feel like they should be concerned that they have a decent amount of talent yet can’t field competitive teams. If they’re trying to mimic the Rays style, this isn’t it.

    • Redbb

      Our farm system has really bad pitching. And they didn’t nab any top pitchers at the trade deadline

      • DaveCT

        I disagree that the system’s pitching is really bad.

        Look at the Daytona rotation in the first half. Even with the tandem system, Rivera, 0.95 WHIP; Petty, 1.20 WHIP; Cooper, 1.14 WHIP; Aguiar, 1.20 WHIP; and now Acuna, 0.71 WHIP. That simply is not really bad pitching.

        Then look at the Dayton rotation before promotions (and injuries): Abbott, 0.85 WHIP; Phillips, 1.11 WHIP; Boyle, 1.13 WHIP; Bonnin, 0.92 WHIP; Kravitz, 1.43 WHIP. That, also, is simply not really bad pitching.

        These numbers do not include the receivers, either.

        The AA numbers are fair to good. Struggles after promotion are common, especially at AA, the most difficult jump to make in professional ball.

        The AAA rotation outside of Overton, 0.95 WHIP, and Williamson who has struggled, is a wasteland, I agree. But when trades and a multitude of injuries have decimated things to such a degree that we have TJ Zeuch in Cincinnati, that’s where we are.

        Last but not least, we have also graduated Greene, Ashcraft, Lododo, and Diaz, three top shelf starters and a closer.

        So, there actually is depth and quality in the system, if not the star power in comparison to the offensive side of things.

      • Luke J

        Guys who make it to professional ball already have a winning attitude and have done plenty of winning their entire lives. I don’t really buy the argument that losing in the minors will somehow get an elite athlete, who competes to win his whole life, to all of a sudden get used to losing and lose that winning drive.

    • Luke J

      I’m not that concerned. Dayton was by FAR the best team in the league early in the year. Then the roster was decimated by promotions. That’s just how the minor leagues are. They aren’t putting together rosters designed to win, nor are they managing in game moves based on winning. They are putting players where they need to be in their development and making in game decisions based on external factors (e.g. starting pitchers not going more than 4 innings in many cases). When your best pitchers are coming out after 4 innings, winning can be hard. The hope is that such caution will pay off dividends at the major league level. There is a theory about limiting innings early in a career being tied to those pitchers who are able to pitch at a high level into their late 30s. It may not work out that way, but they are sacrificing meaningless minor league wins hoping it translates into major league wins. So I’m not worried much at all.

      • Billy

        In general, I agree that winning doesn’t really matter that much. But I think being competitive kind of does. I think part of development is learning how to react in various situations, and I wonder if the Reds are putting guys in those situations enough to learn the necessary lessons. So often over the years we’ve seen talented players make stupid mistakes on the bases and/or in the field. Often times, those little mistakes cost teams wins. Watching the Reds go on yet another prolonged losing streak, where they seem unable to break the slide, it makes me wonder what the organization is doing wrong. I don’t think the answer is “nothing.”

      • Tom

        @Billy – Then the Reds look terrible in high pressure games as well. Can’t win in St Louis, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2020 all looked hopeless in the playoffs.

      • Tom

        @Luke – The Reds minors have had a winning record 2 or 3 times since 2001 or so. If winning didn’t matter (as if it were beyond control due to promotions), you’d think every so often the Reds would string some random success together, but they haven’t.

        To the comment that players don’t get used to losing, they are humans. It happens. Castellanos called it a loser mentality this week. There is absolutely something to it that any competitive enterprise should want to avoid like the plague.

      • MK

        Something I’ve noticed over the years is that teams that typically win at the major league level typically win in the minors. Look at the first half in the Midwest League. The Dragons had a huge lead in the first half. What team came back hard to overtake the but the Loon’s, a Dodgers farm team.

    • mac624

      I’m not overly concerned with winning games. Too me, player development is the key and how they learn to manage situations. 95% of these minor leaguers will never sniff the majors ever, so it’s hard to say that Marte or De La Cruz isn’t developing a winning attitude when most of their teammates won’t play major league ball. I’d much rather the Marte’s and De La Cruz’s of our system develop their skills to make them professional players and then learn to manage situations as they move up, than to stunt their growth so that their team can win games. For me, winning and having a winning attitude may be a little more important in Triple AAA where most of those guys are just one step away, but still, skill development trumps all that most of time as well.

  4. Redsvol

    Is it just me or have many of the prospects that were so highly thought of from the deadlines cratered since our wonderful reds development staff got their hands on them?
    Pitchers hajjar & stout – injured
    Marte, Acosta, arroyo – struggling to hit their weight
    Steer & strand – doing ok but I guess I expected more.
    This organization needs to reconsider its development staff and also put more emphasis on winning in the minors. No, it isn’t the main goal but it sure seems that other organizations prospects are readier when they get to the majors than our own.

    • JaxDan

      I thought the same thing then I looked at Robert Hassell to see what he is doing and his slash line is .211/.311/.237/.548 in 45 PA

      Hoping that Marte and Arroyo are just pressing and will finish the season strong. I do not know what to expect from Acosta

    • MBS

      It might not be just you, but I don’t see any reason for concern. The ebbs and flows of season hit everyone, and moving organizations may exasperate it even further.

    • Randy in Chatt

      I really doubt they lost all of their “development” and skill in a handful of games by switching over to the Reds’ development staff. There could be a lot of factors at play. Adjusting to a new league, adjusting to new teammates and coaches, the pressure of being traded and wanting to perform, getting out of the comfort-ability factor of what they were used to in the old organization and league, going away from people who believed in you into a situation where you know no one and everything is new and different.

      I’m sure it is a very tough thing to be traded at a young age and it will take awhile to adjust. Next season, we should see adjustments made and some of these kids’ performances really shoot up. They are really just very young kids that have never went through anything like this before.

    • mac624

      Many of these guys are young and were settled into their old situations. Moving on is mostly a mental hurdle that they need to overcome. Once they get more comfortable they will begin to hit and play their previous abilities. Most of these guys are less than 21 years of age, which I can tell you, I wasn’t mentally mature enough to handle a sudden and abrupt changing of address at that age either. Need to exercise some patience with these guys. I’m not too concerned about the rest of this season. Next year, when they’ve been in the system, I’m anticipating the return of bigger stats for all of them.

      • DaveCT

        I am unconcerned. These are kids, right? Imagine being 18, 19, 20 years old and having your employer or college trade you across the country. I’d watch who adjusts this year, then really keep an eye on things the next two years. How many are also dealing with a language barrier?

  5. Chuckles

    I watch quite a few Bats games(even though they suck out loud) and I find Cristian Santana intriguing. Swings a good bat and has defensive versatility. Not exactly a prospect, but still only 25 years old.

    • DaveCT

      Agreed. He may be a good September call-up to see what we have.

  6. LDS

    Still like to see Cedrola and Steer promoted to Cincinnati. Plenty of deadwood on the 40-man that can be cleared.

    • Billy

      Ugh. Surely there’s a better analysis out there somewhere. I’d like to see how minor league winning percentage translates to major league winning percentage (both with and without a lag). I’m less concerned about playoffs and championships at either the minor league or major league level for this analysis. I’m more interested in knowing if being uncompetitive at the minor league level leads to the same at the MLB level. I suspect it does to some extent.

  7. VegasRed

    The reds minor leagues have been less than .500 almost across the board all season except for Dayton in the first half. Not a lot of winning going on in the reds overall organization.

    What I am curious about is to watch for the rest of this year but especially next year when the teams start fresh with an increased talent level across the organization.

    I think one can see the AZL team is loaded and winning already this year. I think we might see better play in the higher minors also with a fresh infusion of talent.

    I still hope to see a new field leadership of proven developers of young talent although I think there is less than zero chance of that happening. Of course it makes too much sense to stack the deck with the best developers of young talent when the organization has chosen to build a team primarily or exclusively through young talent.

    Doh!

  8. DaveCT

    Wrote this on RLN, but it fits equally well here, I think.

    So, prospective 1B on the 40-man: Moose (IL), Solano, Schrock (60-day IL),

    Not on the 40-man: Moran, McGarry, Incarnation-Strand.

    Seems to be a lock we’ll see a committee of 40-man guys.

    If, and it’s a definite if, they go developmental, Moran is out, but both McGarry and E-S are college guys who might be able to make the jump to the ML’s as a more ’emergency replacement’ thing. for Aug and Sept.

    Or a combination of both, committee now, development later.

  9. DaveCT

    Reds land five in MLB’s Top 100.. EDLC, Marte, Arroyo, Collier and McLain

    • MBS

      Crazy to think we got Collier at 18th overall, and he gets this kind of rating with just 15 professional AB’s.

  10. Mo84

    I think learning to win is very important to future success. I also think you need to let players compete in high pressure situations during the regular season. Bell rarely let’s his pitchers be challenged later in games during the regular season and I think that’s why we have little to no success in the end of season and postseason recently.

    I also don’t understand why they aren’t embracing young players more. They have Hernandez in triple a as a 23 yo but continue to play a 30 yo at shortstop. Makes no sense.

    • Greenfield Red

      Barerro is the SS. Hernandez has done nothing to earn a call up.

      • Mo84

        Yeah I’m talking Triple-A not MLB. There should be a focus on youth top to bottom. That being said didn’t know Hernandez got hurt.

    • Doug Gray

      Miguel Hernandez suffered a serious knee injury last week and won’t be playing for a while. But the team is also playing Jose Barrero at shortstop in the big leagues right now.