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    Jose Siri (Photo: Doug Gray)
    Photo: Doug Gray

    Reds prospect Jose Siri goes off in winter league debut

    Doug Gray 10

    If you’ve been following along the Cincinnati Reds farm system at all at some point in the last handful of years you’ve heard about how explosive Jose Siri can be at times. On Friday night the outfielder made his Dominican Winter League debut for the Gigantes del Cibao and got to show off that explosiveness.

    In his first trip to the plate he walked. Standing at first base he took off when Richard Urena singled into right field. Siri got to third and as the fielder lollygagged on the throw, he took off to the plate and beat the throw – showing off his plus speed and aggressiveness.

    That play was just a taste of what was going to come on the night for the Reds prospect. After flying out in the bottom of the 4th Jose Siri came back to the plate in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Gigantes were trailing 3-1 with a runner on and two outs. Former Red Alfredo Simon was on the mound for Licey. He left a hanging breaking ball in the middle of the plate on an 0-2 count and Siri did not miss it.

    That home run tied up the game. And that’s where the score would stay for two more innings. With one out and runners on first and second base, Jose Siri came back to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning. He fouled off the first pitch he saw. The second one was lined into left field for a go-ahead RBI double that made it 4-3. The next batter drove in another run with a sac fly to make it a 5-3 game. Cibao would hold on for a 5-4 win.

    Two hits – a home run and a double, a walk, three runs batted in, and two runs scored? Not a bad way to make your debut, Jose Siri. Not bad at all.

    Premier 12 Tournament

    Over the next two-and-a-half weeks the Premiere 12 tournament will be taking place. As you may have guessed by the title, there are 12 teams playing in the tournament. The first rounds will be played in Guadalajara, Mexico, Taichung, Taipei, and Seoul, Korea. The finals will be played in Tokyo.

    These are the teams that will be participating:

    1. Japan
    2. United States
    3. Korea
    4. Taipei
    5. Cuba
    6. Mexico
    7. Australia
    8. Netherlands
    9. Venezuela
    10. Canada
    11. Puerto Rico
    12. Dominican Republic

    Not every team has current Cincinnati Reds prospects on the team, but there are a few out there. And there are a lot more former Reds minor leaguers playing in the tournament, too.

    The current players – Hendrik Clementina, Chadwick Tromp, and Calten Daal are playing for the Netherlands in Group A. Strange enough, they are the only three current Reds playing in the tournament, and are all on the same team.

    The list of former Reds minor leaguers is quite a bit longer.

    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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    10 Responses

        1. Rated #15 Reds MiLB prospect. Clipped from Reds MLB website:

          After he put it all together during a breakout 2017 — which included 20 homers and 40 stolen bases, not to mention a Midwest League record 39-game hitting streak — Siri initially struggled in 2018. A left thumb ligament injury suffered early during Spring Training games when he crashed into the wall trying to make a catch made it tough for him to get on track.

          Brimming with tools and athleticism, Siri could play center field in the Major Leagues right now. With Billy Hamilton departed, there is no center fielder in the system who can get to a fly ball or line drive like Siri can. And his cannon arm also enables him to be a good right fielder. Offensively, he has well above-average raw power, but he still lacks in pitch selection and discipline while being super-aggressive at the plate, keeping him from tapping into that power consistently. Eric Davis has been working with him and had Siri move his hands down on the bat to create more leverage. He possesses great bat speed and can create good backspin on the ball.

          Now is the time for Siri to put it all together, especially after seven years in the organization and being 23 years old. On any given day, a scout could give him 70 and 80 grades across the board. But he needs to improve his emotional control and be pushed at times to reach what still appears to be a high ceiling.

          2019 decent (not great) at AA but not good at AAA:

          Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
          CHA (AA) 101 366 46 92 15 1 11 50 33 126 21 .251 .313 .388 .701
          LOU (AAA) 30 102 10 19 4 1 0 3 9 39 5 .186 .252 .245 .497

    3. I will be very interested to watch the young guys in the Reds OF this year. Winker, Aquino, Senzel (if not moved back to 2B), and hopefully at sometime Siri, will all have a lot to prove this year.

      1. Reminds me of 1980s. Reds had several promising OF then.

        Householder, Milner, and Redus. Milner the best of those. Householder struggled.

        Davis, O’Neill, and Daniels. Davis and O’Neill were stars. Daniels didn’t live up to his potential.

    4. Really like this kid personally. Fun kid yo be around. Lot of hotdog, lot of fire and personality, a lot of tools. Remember the saying about Manny Ranierez was Let Manny be Manny. With Siri it might be Let Jose be Jose,

    5. I thought he had an outside shot at the last spot on the roster, as a defensive replacement. Now that they have Jankowski, I’d say there is 0 chance. I think that will be his role in the future, D replacement, sneaky power off the bench, good runner.

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