Tom Nichols finished up his Dayton Dragons team preview series this morning when he took a final look at all of the positions, wrapping things up with the outfielder preview.
The candidates he looks at are: Aristides Aquino, Jonathan Reynoso, Jimmy Pickens, Nick Benedetto, Gabriel Rosa and Narciso Crook. There are full write ups on each of the players at the link, so I’d recommend checking the link above out.
I’m betting the starting three outfielders will be Aquino in right, Reynoso in center and Rosa in left. Pickens has played some first base in the past, and I’d expect him to spend some time moving around between several spots and the DH spot. Benedetto is the best defender of the group, so he will probably get time around the outfield as well, mixing in at all three spots. I expect Crook to stay back in Arizona and head to Billings when the season starts there, or make his way to Dayton if a spot opens up and he’s playing well in extended spring training.
Baseball Prospectus has two Reds related articles up this week, but both require a subscription to Baseball Prospectus. The first one looks at the top hit tools in the minor leagues. Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jesse Winker is listed as the guy with the second best hit tool in the minors, trailing only Twins super prospect Byron Buxton. Winker is praised for his short swing and his approach.
Jeff Moore, also at Baseball Prospectus, looks at the Florida State League for 2015. The Reds new Advanced-A team, the Daytona Tortugas is among the league. Moore calls the Tortugas a destination team to see due to all of the talent that could be on the roster. He notes Nick Travieso, Nick Howard, Phillip Ervin and Alex Blandino as guys that will be coming through. That also misses out on guys like Amir Garrett and Sal Romano in the rotation or Junior Arias in the outfield as other high upside types of players.
Michael Lorenzen had a strong start yesterday for the Reds, allowing just one run over three innings before heading to the bullpen to throw more pitches to get extended so he’s ready to handle a full starters load of pitches when the season begins. He talked about his outing in the video below: