Reds Down on the Farm...

Originally Posted by LRCW

What is with the Dodgers avatar?

The Dodgers avatar is for Patrick Starr who passed away it seems like almost a year to the date...He was a longtime poster on here and he loved his Dodgers, I gave him a hard time on many occasions but it didn't seem right not seeing his Dodgers avatar anymore in the MLB board...The passing of AL brought back memories of Patrick to me and how much more fun it was to heckle fans of other teams...Other posters on here rep the Reds avatars and other local teams, and most everyone knows who I am a fan of on here...For a short time I just wanted to dedicate my avatar to Patrick and his Dodgers since he is no longer able too...I post mostly on the MLB board and when ever Patrick used to say something negative about the Reds, the Reds would usually get hot...I'm hoping the Dodgers avatar can bring back some of Patrick's good luck for the Reds... So far they are undefeated 1-0

Tony Cingrani leads the league in ERA and strikeouts, and since being drafted, he's struck out 145 hitters in less than 100 innings and only walked 16... He is also pitching in what many consider a hitters league, the California league...One of the Reds best SP pitching prospects in a while...3rd pick in 2011, Lefty throws low to mid 90's...Big Frame 6'4", 200 lbs...

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	BB/9	SO/9
2011	21	Billings	PION	Rk	CIN	3	2	.600	1.75	13	13	51.1	35	11	10	1	6	80	0.799	1.1	14.0
2012	22	Bakersfield	CALL	A+	CIN	4	1	.800	0.78	8	8	46.0	28	9	4	2	10	65	0.826	2.0	12.7
2 Seasons						7	3	.700	1.29	21	21	97.1	63	20	14	3	16	145	0.812	1.5	13.4

2 more steals for Billy, 42 in 45 games now...

End of May Update
L-Ville- Danny Dorn is hitting .375/.405/.600 over his last 10 games and is only hitless in one of those games (and he went 0-1 in that game). Joey Gathright was added to the Bats last week and has hit .415 with 3 walks in 5 games to help spark some offense. Brett Tomko remains the top starter on the team with a 3.18 ERA, though he is sitting with an 0-5 record on the season despite not allowing many runs (no unearned runs either). Both Dorn and Gathright could help fill the Reds Left Handed void on the bench. Harris has also been hot of late and could also add Left Handed depth off the bench in favor of Valdez.

Pensacola- Josh Fellhauer has been the most consistent hitter on the Blue Wahoos since Henry Rodriguez went down with an injury. Fellhauer is hitting .333/.421/.465 on the season with 15 walks and 16 strikeouts. Andrew Means has been with the Blue Wahoos for just over two weeks and has hit .333/.368/.528 since being promoted. Kyle Lotzkar has been somewhat solid for the Blue Wahoos as he has toed a wild line to post a 3.20 ERA with 18 walks and 20 strikeouts in 19.2 innings. Daniel Corcino has had a strong May with a 3.72 ERA in 29 innings with 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. Tim Crabbe has posted a 3.65 ERA in May, though like Lotzkar he has toed a fine line with 18 walks and 23 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. Donnie Joseph continues to just run through the league with a 0.67 ERA in 27 innings with 12 saves, 6 walks and 40 strikeouts.

Bakersfield- he Blaze have gotten an infusion on offense from speedster Theo Bowe just over two weeks ago. Bowe is hitting .382/.460/.564 since being called up from Dayton with 9 steals. Bryson Smith is hitting .342/.419/.490 on the season. His .342 average ranks him 5th in the league. Despite being in a month long slump (.250/.311/.339), Billy Hamilton seems to be breaking out of it with an 8 game hitting streak. He also has an insane 54 steals through May 29th. On the pitching side of things Tony Cingrani continues to lead the way with a 1.11 ERA in 56.2 innings with 13 walks and 71 strikeouts which rank first and second in the league. It's supposed to be a hitters league

Dayton- Kurtis Muller has done his part to try and get the team out of the offensive funk it has been on with a .441/.472/.676 in his 8 games since being called up from extended spring training. Ryan Wright has been on fire lately despite his hitting streak coming to an end last night. He has hit .486/.513/.676 over his last 10 games with 7 doubles. He is hitting .349/.384/.491 in May overall. Kyle Waldrop won the Midwest League player of the week this past week and has hit .297/.350/.459 over his last 10 games.

Good thing they have some solid pitching prospects because other than Hamilton it's looks slim on the hitter side.

Originally Posted by HammerTime

Good thing they have some solid pitching prospects because other than Hamilton it's looks slim on the hitter side.

Agreed they traded away their hitters and I hope they stock up in the first few rounds of the draft unless their is just a can't miss pitching prospect that falls to them...

Is Shaffer the 3B from Clemson? I'm hoping they go for him at #14. Have heard they really like Marrero (sp?) the Sun Devil SS, but I'm not too keen on the fact he's compared to Rey Ordonez.

Originally Posted by UKMustangFan

Is Shaffer the 3B from Clemson? I'm hoping they go for him at #14. Have heard they really like Marrero (sp?) the Sun Devil SS, but I'm not too keen on the fact he's compared to Rey Ordonez.

Shaffer is the 3B from Clemson and he seems like a kid that could fast track to the bigs...I absolutely love the kid and he has been mocked to the Reds, I sure hope it happens...I posted about him a bit in this thread, there is a video included...2012 MLB Draft

June 1st Update
Last night at Bakersfield Billy Hamilton was 3-for-6 with his 56th and 57th stolen bases. and Theo Bowe added his 23rd total (11th at A+) with 2 hits of his own. Billy's 57 SB's have come in just 50 Games, he has also missed a handful of games due to a death in the family...145 is the Record set by Vince Coleman, Billy is on pace right now for 158...

Nice catch the other night for Kristopher Negron of the BATS...It was SC TOP 10 for those that didn't see it...

Nice Billy Hamilton Prospect video with in game footage near the end...

6/1
L-Ville- Joey Gathright 1-4 with a Double, hitting .360 with a .429 obp in 7 games thus far
Bakersfield- Billy the Kids goes 2-3 plus 3 Walks and 3 Stolen Bases 58,59 and 60

6-2
Lville-Gathright continues to hit I think he has a hit in everygame since being signed...He had 1 last night...
Bakersfield-Hamilton stayed hot going 2-3 with a triple a walk and steal #61...Billyy Hamilton remains hot as he extended his hitting streak to 12 games where he has hit .373 over that stretch...

6/3
Lville-Joey Gathright keeps on hitting...3-4 Today with a Double, 3 RBI and a SB, He is now hitting .382...Jeff Francis threw a complete game with 1 BB, O ER and 4 K's lowering his ERA to 3.72
Pensacola-The Reds hottest pitching prospect made his AA debut today...6.2 IP, 2ER, 2BB, 5K...
Bakersfield-Hamilton went 2-5 Again with a Double and another SB #62 on the year...

6/4
Lville-Joey Gathright continues to hit, he had one last night...He has hit in every game at AAA...
Pensacola-Didi Gregorius 3-5 with 2 runs...Kyle Lotzkar allowed 2 earned in 7 innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts...Kyle Lotzkar has no walks and 18 strikeouts in his last two starts over 13 innings. In his first 19.2 innings in AA he had 18 walks and 20 strikeouts.
Bakersfield-Billy Hamilton went 0-2 but had 2 more walks and another steal (63)...31 BB to 42 K's Billy is improving at the dish...

Billy Hamilton 1-3 last night with a Run Scored and 2 more walks...Not too mention 4 more SBs leaving him with 67 on the year

6/7
Lville-Joey Gathright went 2-5 with 2 RBI and a run. He is now at .314 thru 13 games with 2 Doubles, 8 RBIs and 2 SBs...Bill Rhinehart went 1-1 with a solo HR (5). Willie Harris went 2-4 with 2 runs. Neftali Soto went 2-5. Mike Costanzo went 2-3 with 2 walks, an RBI and a run.
Bakersfield-Billy Hamilton went 1-4 with 2 runs and 2 steals (69.

The way Hamilton is batting, shouldn't he be moved up a level?

Originally Posted by Show Stopper

The way Hamilton is batting, shouldn't he be moved up a level?

I would think he will be at the All-Star break.

Originally Posted by Show Stopper

The way Hamilton is batting, shouldn't he be moved up a level?

Not only is he batting good but he is taking walks and hasn't had an error in the field in like 14 or something games which is great for him...He should get moved up too AA Pensacola soon as long as the current SS at Pensacola Didi Gregorius continues to play good...In order for Hamilton to move up Gregorius must also move up a level which shouldn't be a problem considering Louisville is the worst team in AAA and are without Janish who was their SS...They could also shift Didi to 2B and him and Hamilton could play together, that would be very exciting...

They could also go ahead and try Hamilton in CF as well before moving him up...If he does okay then they can move him up to play CF in AA and Gregorius can stay at AA to play SS, with the CF Lamarre getting promoted to AAA where their is also no decent CFers...

Another option would be to include Gregorius in a trade with someone else to get a bat to help the Reds...It's just hard to do anything when 2 of your better prospects play the same position and are both at basically the same stage in their development...And signing BP to an extension didn't help, Gregorius could have replaced him at 2B...With Cozart and Phillips, it's probably best to go ahead very soon and move Hamilton to CF and maybe even move Didi to LF, they both have the athleticism to switch positions...