Yesterday, if you missed it, Baseball America released the Pioneer League Top 20 prospect list that included six Reds, which is as many from one league for the Reds that I can recall. The next league Top 20 that the Reds are in will be on Tuesday with the Midwest League, though I would be surprised to see any Dragons make that list.
John Sickels has been doing a series on each round of the 2012 draft over the past few weeks. Thursday he looked at the 17th round and had this to say about Jose Ortiz:
532) Jose Ortiz, C, Cincinnati Reds: High school catcher from Puerto Rico, quick start in a small sample, hit .359/.469/.538 with eight walks, 10 strikeouts in 39 at-bats in the AZL. Made four errors in nine games. Interesting, will have to track him.
Ortiz is a guy who intrigues me after his brief showing in Arizona. Drew some walks, showed some power, at least for now is catching. Scouting reports have some good things to say from each side of the ball as well.
I am not sure what the line up is for next week as far as articles go, but one thing that I would really like to get into is the park factors for each stadium the Reds teams play their home games in, to give what our guys did a little more context. Hopefully I can get all of the data done over the weekend and have something for Monday. If not, well, you will be only slightly less surprised than I will be.
Not really Reds related, but this is a great story. A guy was hit in the head with a pitch in his first and only MLB plate appearance. He suffered with many post-concussion symptoms following it. He never got another shot in the Majors after making his lone appearance seven years ago. The Marlins are going to give him another trip to the plate. Nice gesture on their part.