Yesterday Baseball America released its Reds Top 10 list. I wanted to look at their Top 10 lists going back several years.
| 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | |
| 1 | Devin Mesoraco | Aroldis Chapman | Todd Frazier | Yonder Alonso | Jay Bruce |
| 2 | Billy Hamilton | Billy Hamilton | Yonder Alonso | Todd Frazier | Homer Bailey |
| 3 | Yonder Alonso | Devin Mesoraco | Mike Leake | Drew Stubbs | Joey Votto |
| 4 | Yasmani Grandal | Yonder Alonso | Chris Heisey | Chris Valaika | Johnny Cueto |
| 5 | Zack Cozart | Yorman Rodriguez | Juan Francisco | Yorman Rodriguez | Drew Stubbs |
| 6 | Daniel Corcino | Yasmani Grandal | Yorman Rodriguez | Kyle Lotzkar | Devin Mesoraco |
| 7 | Robert Stephenson | Juan Francisco | Travis Wood | Neftali Soto | Todd Frazier |
| 8 | DiDi Gregorius | Zack Cozart | Matt Maloney | Juan Francisco | Juan Francisco |
| 9 | Todd Frazier | Todd Frazier | Brad Boxberger | Juan Duran | Josh Roenicke |
| 10 | Brad Boxberger | Kyle Lotzkar | Zack Cozart | Devin Mesoraco | Matt Maloney |
The depth can really show up if you look at the 2008 list compared to the 2012 list. Matt Maloney was a solid prospect, as was Josh Roenicke, but Roenicke as a prospect doesn’t compare at all to Brad Boxberger as a prospect. For comparison’s sake, here is my Top 10’s over the same stretch of time.
| 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | |
| 1 | Devin Mesoraco | Aroldis Chapman | Yonder Alonso | Yonder Alonso | Jay Bruce |
| 2 | Yasmani Grandal | Devin Mesoraco | Todd Frazier | Neftali Soto | Homer Bailey |
| 3 | Daniel Corcino | Yonder Alonso | Mike Leake | Drew Stubbs | Johnny Cueto |
| 4 | Yonder Alonso | Yorman Rodriguez | Yorman Rodriguez | Todd Frazier | Joey Votto |
| 5 | Yorman Rodriguez | Billy Hamilton | Juan Francisco | Chris Valaika | Drew Stubbs |
| 6 | Robert Stephenson | Yasmani Grandal | Chris Heisey | Devin Mesoraco | Todd Frazier |
| 7 | Billy Hamilton | Todd Frazier | Brad Boxberger | Kyle Lotzkar | Travis Wood |
| 8 | Dave Sappelt | Juan Francisco | Travis Wood | Zach Stewart | Devin Mesoraco |
| 9 | Zack Cozart | Brad Boxberger | Zack Cozart | Danny Dorn | Neftali Soto |
| 10 | Neftali Soto | Dave Sappelt | Billy Hamilton | Juan Francisco | Josh Roenicke |
Not entirely prospect related, because technically Juan Francisco is no longer a prospect…. but he was robbed at gun point in the Dominican Republic after a game in the Winter League. This isn’t the first time I have heard of a prospect or player being robbed in the Dominican and I am sure it won’t be the last one. Still, it is never good to hear about.
Yorman Rodriguez is playing in the Venezuelan Winter League’s “minor league” the Parallel League. Here is a list of players for the Reds who have participated in the league so far:
| Player | AB | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | HBP | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Valor, Humberto | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .200 | .333 | .200 | .533 |
| Rodriguez, Henry | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .333 | .412 | .400 | .812 |
| Rodriguez, Yorman | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .412 | .444 | .706 | 1.150 |
| Player | ERA | W-L | SV | IP | H | BB | K | HR | AVG |
| Morillo, Junior | 3.27 | 1-0 | 1 | 11.0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .238 |
| Chacin, Alejandro | 2.25 | 1-0 | 0 | 8.0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .281 |
| Guillon, Ismael | 81.00 | 0-0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
It is good to see Henry Rodriguez is back on the field after suffering a broken ankle in the last week of the season. Yorman Rodriguez is off to a hot start in a league that is well suited for his age. I may have missed a player going over the stats, so if I did and you see it, let me know.