Lets start off with the All Questions Answered rules:
- Each user gets 3 questions.
- Avoid questions that have very long answers or require me to look up a lot to answer them.
- Ask before midnight.
News and notes
Jason Parks looks at the Reds in his most recent “Prospects will break your heart” series at Baseball Prospectus. The article is subscriber content, but you can see his entire take on Devin Mesoraco for free.
But just because 2010 was legit, and his estimated time of arrival in Cincinnati is in the immediate future, that doesn’t mean he is going to thrive in 2011 the way he did for most of the previous season. In fact, I think it’s more likely that he takes a step back than takes another step forward, and the culprit will be his swing. While certainly not an all-or-nothing power threat, Mesoraco does tend to load up his stroke for the big thrill, dropping his back half and sending an exaggerated swing plane through the zone. There’s nothing wrong with having a slightly-upper-cut swing, in fact, you will find the majority of good hitters possess one. But hitting for power can be a drug with negative effect, and the more you crave the long ball, the more likely that your overall approach and hit tool suffer as a result.
I tend to agree with Jason on a lot of things when it comes to scouting and he is a guy I will go to at times when I need another opinion on someone. I don’t have a BP subscription, so I can’ t read the entire article, but for those who do I have two things to say about the article: The series is geared toward who could go wrong, not what will and Jason is a smart dude who knows what he is talking about a lot more often than he misses on things. So pay attention.
John Fay has up some notes on Dave Sappelt that he likely got while working on an article for today’s paper. Here is one of the more interesting parts from the post:
The other key for Sappelt is keeping stronger. He has had trouble keeping on weight as the season progresses. He reported to camp this year at 195 pounds. By the end of last season, he was down to 180.
“That’s the biggest thing,” he said. “If I keep my weight up, I’ll hit 18 to 20 (home runs).”
That is quite a bit of weight shed over the season. It will be really interesting if Dave Sappelt shows that much HR power in 2011.
Here is how the prospects performed in yesterdays win over the Padres:
- Dave Sappelt went 1-3 with 2 RBI.
- Andrew Means went 1-2.
- Kris Negron went 2-2 with a run and 2 RBI.
- Juan Francisco went 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBI.
- Michael Griffin went 0-2.
- Yonder Alonso went 1-3 with a walk and 2 runs.
- Neftali Soto went 1-2.
- Devin Mesoraco went 2-2 with a run.
- Todd Frazier went 1-3 with an RBI and 2 runs.
- Kyle Waldrop went 0-1.
- Cody Puckett went 0-1.
- Danny Dorn went 1-3 with an RBI and a run.
- Juan Duran went 0-2.
- Zack Cozart went 1-3 with an RBI and 2 runs.
- Miguel Rojas went 0-0 with a walk and a run.
- Alex Buchholz went 1-1.
It is only March 10th, but the Reds prospects are absolutely killing the ball. Sappelt, Mesoraco and Negron are all hitting .500 in spring so far. Alonso and Cozart are both hitting .400. Lots of good hitting going around for the prospects so far, but I still don’t think that any of them have a shot at making the opening day roster (to the point where they stick, though perhaps Alonso could be a bat off the bench until the Reds need their 5th starter much like Juan Francisco did last season).