Usually Monday is set for a “2011 Season in Review” article, but there were a lot of things that happened over the weekend worth talking about, so that gets pushed to tomorrow.
Lance McAllister talked with David Bell on Thursday night. You can listen to it here, Bell comes on at the 7:20 mark at the link. He talks about several players, including Denis Phipps (much higher on Phipps than I am), Neftali Soto, Henry Rodriguez and Didi Gregorius.
Speaking of David Bell, you can watch his press conference where he is introduced to the Louisville media at TheBatsSignal.com.
Beyond the Box Score’s Bill Petti takes a look at what has happened with the scouting industry in baseball over the last decade. Part of the conclusion he comes to is that technology and statistical analysis have been a large part of it. Go give it a read.
Jonathan Mayo has been unveiling his Top 10 prospects by position over the last week. Both catcher and first base came up this past week. Devin Mesoraco came in at #2 on the catchers list, behind recently traded Jesus Montero. I probably wouldn’t have ranked him behind Montero on a catchers list, since I just don’t think many see Montero as more than a DH who is allowed to wear catchers gear. Neftali Soto came in at #7 on the first basemans list. Former Red Yonder Alonso came in at #2 on the list, just behind the guy the Padres traded to make room for him.
Baseball America has up its newest list of transactions and there is an interesting name that the Reds signed on the list. The Reds have brought in former top prospect Joel Guzman. Guzman was Juan Francisco before Juan Francisco was Juan Francisco. He has plus power, but a terrible approach at the plate with a career 3.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He spent 2011 in Japan where he struggled mightily, hitting .181/.219/.298 with 81 strikeouts and just 9 walks. In 2010 he played in AA where he hit .279/.344/.519 with 33 home runs. I wouldn’t expect him to be someone that will eventually help out in the Majors, but he should be able to help out at the minor league level, possibly manning first base for Pensacola.