Eric Eymann

I know we have some folks on here who have watched Chattanooga play in person this season and I was wondering what those folks thought of Eric Eymann, the Lookouts shortstop? The reason I ask is because I was reading on Doug's website that Eymann may be heading the Hawaii Winter League. That leads me to believe the Reds view him as a decent prospect. He's 24 years old so he's not a great prospect but he did hit a decent .299/.342/.436 - .778 with Chattanooga this year. His walk improved in the second half he hit hit .308/.370/.432 - .802 in the second half compared to .294/.328/.438 - .766 in the first half. Hopefully that improved walk rate is a sign of things to come.

I did some research on Eymann and couldn't find much. There is a little tidbit from Baseball America from his 2005 draft report that says he he good range at shortstop and a strong arm to go with some juice in his bat. That's all I could find. I was hoping someone who has seen him play can give us a little more information. He's probably not a starter unless his bat further develops next season but he may make it as a solid utility guy down the road.

Is it possible they're wanting to dress him up as a possible trading chip? I guess you could say that about any number of prospects who head to these fall and winter leagues, though.

He played in the all star game. Didn't he play third base for most of the year?

Eymann looks to have the potential to be a utility guy, but I just don't know if he will hit enough to be more than that. He does have pretty good defense though.

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Originally Posted by redsmetz

Is it possible they're wanting to dress him up as a possible trading chip? I guess you could say that about any number of prospects who head to these fall and winter leagues, though.

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I have wondered about this as well. I lean toward the view that a team would not want to waste a winter ball slot on a player that they simply wanted to showcase for a trade. Further, since Eymann had a breakout good year anyway, sending him to winter ball solely for that purpose, would risk more downside than upside.

The contrary view is that sending a player to winter ball implies that the organization values him....exactly what you want other teams to conclude. I believe, however, that if such behavior were standard practice, the organization would soon lose the trust of trading partners. Besides, other teams already have an idea of the value of our players.

Solid 19th round draft pick.

IIrc, Eymann's range has been dwindling every year (to be expected from a guy who's 6'3"), but he has the potential to be very good, defensively, when he cuts the errors down. This year, what's really impressive is that he has drastically cut down his strikeouts. Before this year, I would've said he's not a prospect, but if he can add some power, he could be another guy like Adam Rosales.