C. Trent visits Reds minor league camp

Good stuff from C. Trent. Go check out the link below...

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* While talking to Heisey, I saw Yorman Rodriguez. Dude is every bit 6-3, I think. And raw. It was crazy -- and Heisey and I talked about this -- that Heisey was 21 when he got to Rookie ball and Rodriquez is 17 and hlaready has a year of Rookie Ball under his belt. He won't be 18 until August. Nuts. He's crazy athletic, but still very raw.

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* Yonder Alonso was playing left field for the AAA team. He said he likes it, because he can concentrate on hitting.

I only saw one ball hit his way.

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http://cnati.com/blogs/ctrent/2010/0...ack-fields.php

C. Trent is thinking about watching the Reds minor leaguers again tomorrow and taking some video and photos.

i hope yonder gets some aaa action in LF and he can play at least an average LF

you'd think if Kyle Blanks could play in LF, Alonso could as well, he's not a total stiff

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you'd think if Kyle Blanks could play in LF, Alonso could as well, he's not a total stiff

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Especially considering Blanks plays in a much larger OF in San Diego.

But I do think Alonso would be bad out there. Francisco's more athletic.

Every Reds fan knows you can't have a home run hitter who's poor on defense in LF.

I think everyone is going to have to accept the fact that Alonso will have to play Left Field and that he's just going to end up playing it at a "D" level, if you used a "Strat-o-matic" reference for judging his defense....or at a Manny Ramirez level.

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Originally Posted by Degenerate39

Every Reds fan knows you can't have a home run hitter who's poor on defense in LF.

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You can if he doesn't hit .220.

or if he hits .220 he still gets on base at a .360+ clip and mashes 40 HR's every year.

:)

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Originally Posted by TRF

or if he hits .220 he still gets on base at a .360+ clip and mashes 40 HR's every year.

:)

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OK...but I would have batted him 2nd all the time. But, I guess only Redszone knew that was the best spot to use him.

From Bill James:

The defensive spectrum looks like this:

[ - - 1B - LF - RF - 3B - CF - 2B - SS - C - - ]
with the basic premise being that positions at the right end of
the spectrum are more difficult than the positions at the left
end of the spectrum. Players can generally move from right
to left along the specturm successfully during their careers.

We're having Alonso move the wrong direction. But, there's no choice.

This came from "A Bill James Primer" from 1988:

"What I wanted to write about... is a very basic question. Of all the studies I have done over the last 12 years, what have I learned? What is the relevance of sabermetric knowledge to the decision making process of a team? If I were employed by a major-league team, what are the basic things that I know from the research I have done which would be of use to me in helping that team?"

--Minor league batting statistics will predict major league batting performance with essentially the same reliability as previous major league statistics.
--Talent in baseball is not normally distributed. It is a pyramid. For every player who is 10 percent above the average player, there are probably twenty players who are 10 pecent below average.
--What a player hits in one ballpark may be radically different from what he would hit in another.
--Ballplayers, as a group, reach their peak value much earlier and decline much more rapidly than people believe.
--Players taken in the June draft coming out of college (or with at least two years of college) perform dramatically better than players drafted out of high school.
--The chance of getting a good player with a high draft pick is substantial enough that it is clearly a disastrous strategy to give up a first round draft choice to sign a mediocre free agent. (see note #1)
--A power pitcher has a dramatically higher expectation for future wins than does a finesse picther of the same age and ability.
--Single season won-lost records have almost no value as an indicator of a pitcher's contribution to a team.
--The largest variable determining how many runs a team will score is how many times they get their leadoff man on base.
--A great deal of what is perceived as being pitching is in fact defense.
--True shortage of talent almost never occurs at the left end of the defensive spectrum. (see note #2)
--Rightward shifts along the defensive spectrum almost never work. (see note #2)
--Our idea of what makes a team good on artificial turf is not supported by any research.
--When a team improves sharply one season they will almost always decline in the next.
--The platoon differential is real and virtually universal

Notes:
--Major league teams still must surrender choices in the amateur draft in exchange for signing free agents.
--The defensive spectrum looks like this: (see above)

C. Trent stayed behind and watched the minor leaguers again today. Here are some of his observations...

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* Really wanted to see OF Andrew Means run -- and the one at-bat I saw him, I got a chance. He hit a double. Dude can fly.

* Also wanted to see D.D. Gregorius, just because he has my favorite name in the system. Seriously, that's a star's name. He's from Curacao. And the one time I watched him, he had a double as well.

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click here for the rest:
http://cnati.com/blogs/ctrent/2010/0...eets-32910.php

More from C. Trent:

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Yonder Alonso said he's really enjoying left field. He's played quite a bit there recently. He said he got one ball today, a line drive he caught. He had an assist yesterday, which he called "crazy"

Alonso said playing in left allows him to really concentrate on being a hitter.

It'll be interesting to see if he starts in Carolina or Louisville. We'll see. Said he was 1-for-3 today with an RBI double and a walk.

* Speaking of, Devin Mesoraco will start in High A Lynchburg. I'll have a story on Mesoraco in the next couple of days.

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follow the link for the rest:
http://cnati.com/blogs/ctrent/2010/0...inor-stuff.php

Glad Mesoraco is starting in high A.

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Originally Posted by lollipopcurve

Glad Mesoraco is starting in high A.

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that makes 2 of us. im excited to see him in person alot

From Adam Foster's twitter:

Yonder Alonso's looking trimmer than when I saw him at the AFL. He's in LF today and sporting a mohawk

http://twitter.com/AdamWFoster

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He's in LF today and sporting a mohawk

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Could there be a platoon of mohawks in LF in the Reds future?

IF Kevin Mitchell could play LF...then so can Yonder.

It isn't about letting someone play there, its about playing it well enough to help the team. Lots and lots of doubts that Alonso can do that. Lets hope he proves us wrong.

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Originally Posted by TRF

or if he hits .220 he still gets on base at a .360+ clip and mashes 40 HR's every year.

:)

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What good are all those HR's if they "don't mean anything"... :laugh: