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    Brian O'Grady (Photo: Doug Gray)
    Photo: Doug Gray

    Reds prospect Brian O’Grady homers twice. Again.

    Doug Gray 21

    Two seasons ago Brian O’Grady hit .185. And that came when he was a 25-year-old. That could be the end of the line for some players in professional baseball. But the Reds didn’t give up on O’Grady. And the former Rutgers Scarlet Knight didn’t give up on himself, either. He put in the work that offseason and rebounded in a big way in 2018, hitting .280/.358/.512 between Double-A and Triple-A. He set a career high with 21 doubles and 14 home runs, and tied a career high with 6 triples.

    He’s carried that forward into 2019 and then some. On Saturday night he went out and hit two home runs and drove in eight runs for the Louisville Bats. That gave him an organizational best 24 home runs on the season. It was Brian O’Grady’s FIFTH 2-home run game of the season. Sort of. Technically it was his SIXTH – I was only counting games in which he hit ONLY two homers. On May 19th he hit three.

     

    It’s just been a season where Brian O’Grady has racked up extra-base hit after extra-base hit. The left-handed hitter now has 20 doubles, a triple, and he’s hit 24 home runs. That’s helped give him a line of .295/.365/.601 on the year for Louisville. And just for good measure, O’Grady has also stolen 12 bases on the season.

    It hasn’t just been Brian O’Grady who has been killing the ball for Louisville this season. Aristides Aquino has also been crushing home runs at a high rate, and he joined O’Grady in rounding the bases on Saturday night.

     

    The home run for Aristides Aquino was his 21st of the year, and his 3rd in the last eight games for Louisville. He has spent some time on the injured list this season, missing nearly a month and has played in just 62 games. Despite the missed time, he’s racked up 34 extra-base hits. That’s helped him post a .299/.358/.628 line on the year for the Bats.

    To continue on the “players who are destroying the ball in Louisville” theme, I present to you Josh VanMeter. Last night he went 3-4 with a walk and a triple. That raised his line in 46 games this season with the Bats to .358/.438/.688.

    Cameron Warren out to a quick start as a pro

    After playing for Texas Tech in the College World Series, Cameron Warren signed a pro contract with the Reds on June 28th. The 24-year-old was assigned to the Greeneville Reds a week later. He has played in six games and he’s reached base twice in all of them but one. Warren went 2-5 last night, raising his season line to .435/.519/.522 with four walks, three steals, and seven runs batted in for Greeneville.

    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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    21 Responses

    2. Not trying to knock this group at all, but do you start to look at the AAA numbers with some doubt? Are these types of numbers common across the league this year?

        1. That’s a terrible example, though. Josh VanMeter barely played with the Reds, and when he did it was mostly as a pinch hitter.

          That said, of course you look at it with *some doubt*. But they are using the exact same baseball that’s being used in the Major Leagues right now.

          What we do need to be careful with, though, is trying to compare 2019 Triple-A numbers to past Triple-A numbers.

          And we need to also understand that while everyone is hitting for more power across the board, most guys aren’t going out there and doing what guys like VanMeter, O’Grady, or Aquino are doing. They are all still 200 OPS points above the league average. They’re all killing the ball by comparison to the league, even if the league is up across the board.

        2. Not a terrible example. VanMeter has shown nothing before 2019 in MiLB or in MLB this year to show he is a .358 hitter. The juiced MLB ball is being used in AAA this year.

          1. It’s a terrible example because he’s had like 50 plate appearances in the Majors and you’re citing his batting average as proof of something.

            And you should read more about Josh VanMeter. He absolutely RAKED the second half of last season after implementing changes at the plate.

        3. While Doug’s right and you can’t compare last year’s stats I did just that in a fun pointless game. Looking at the top 15 AAA homerun leaders plus VanMeter and not factoring in ABs this is a re-rank based on percentage increase of HRs compared to last year.

          Hilliard up 189%
          Mathison 120%
          O’Grady 79%
          Diaz 62%
          Tomas 57%
          Gettys 47%
          Cron 32%
          Snyder 17%
          Van Meter 17%
          Alvarez 15%
          Hasse 15%
          Davidson 10%
          Green 10%
          Aquino 5%
          Tucker 0
          Bradley -11%

      2. Hard to say – although those 3 are top 10-15 in pretty much every counting stat in the league

      3. Doug? Anyone? Off topic, but could it be that part of Mahles problems is that he a over throwing? In the minors, iirc, he never walked anyone, in MLB his velocity seems up along with his walks..correlation/causation?

    3. The real question is when do any/all of these players get a real shot at the mlb level?
      Why else can they really do to prove they belong?
      I’d have Vanmeter up w reds now and playing full time between 2B and OF.
      If VM continues his tear, that makes Puig expendable. IMO
      Or for at least other reds tradebait ( Peraza, maybe Winker, scooter, Puig)

        1. Didn’t say dump. On an expiring contract. Teams like reds need to acquire everything they can

        2. If the Reds don’t trade Puig, they’ll end up with zilch.

          The fact he’s heating up means he’s going to have too high of a price tag for the Reds. Boy, I sure hope Bob C doesn’t sign him to an expensive extension anyway.

        1. I like the idea of quinoa crushing the ball…. now I’m hungry (but not for quinoa).

      2. This autocorrect is awesome!

        Aristides better get his agent on the phone—I smell endorsements for Whole Foods and Fresh Market!

      1. If Winker is out, do you see VanMeter being called up again or is Ervin getting more abs because of his recent performance ?

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