Loading ...Lisa Winston over on the Minor League Baseball site has an article on the Reds Minor league spring training camp that has a lot of great nuggets of information. Here are a few that caught my eye.
How has the “trinity of shortstop prospects” (Paul Janish, Chris Valaika and Milton Loo) shaken out and how will they break camp?
For now, at least, that trinity is a duo, as Loo has yet to report to camp due to family issues at home in Hawaii.
Had all three prospects been present and accounted for, the tentative plan was for Janish to start at Double-A Chattanooga, Valaika at Class A Advanced Sarasota and Loo at Class A Dayton.
Also mentioned that Rosales is not fully healthy and that Justin Tordi, who caught at Billings last season, has been put back at his original position of SS to help out there due to all the injuries.
Right-handers Richie Gardner and Thomas Pauly could both break camp as high as Chattanooga if not with one of the Class A clubs, though their official destinations are not yet known.
The Reds say that both are throwing the ball well. Also mentions that Daryl Thompson, acquired in “The Trade”, has looked good this spring.
These guys all had shoulder surgery, so their road back is going to be tough. We’ll keep an eye on them for you this summer.
Another comment I found interesting:
“Our goal is to keep the [Billings] kids together at Dayton, but if injuries force us to change that plan we have all the faith in the world that Valaika can go there and play well.”
This was hinted at by Gary Roller in his interview with RLN.
And on Jay Bruce:
“As a staff, we all feel he could play anywhere we put him, but in his best interest, and I think [GM] Wayne [Krivsky]‘s philosophy, is if we’re going to err, let’s do it on the side of caution,” Reynolds said. “So if I had to tell you today, I’d say he would be on the Sarasota roster. But we also have a lot of guys dinged up on the big-league club [which may trickle down and affect the outfielders] so if we had to put him in Chattanooga I think everyone would be very comfortable with that.”
Makes it sound like Jay should, baring injury and if he does as expected, be in Chattanooga (at least) by season’s end.
Couple more:
The biggest eye opener among the Minor Leaguers in Reds camp this spring was shortstop prospect Paul Janish.
I thought Janish was impressive when he was at Dayton. Sounds like he could possibly be in Louisville by season’s end.
And on Drew Stubbs:
Another player making an outstanding impression in his first Spring Training has been outfielder Drew Stubbs, the Reds’ first-round pick last spring out of Texas.
Their comments about Stubbs seem to be more about his work ethic and being coachable than the results, let’s hope that it’s all of the above.