Baseball America's Top 20 Pioneer League Prospects (Billy Hamilton No. 1)

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Originally Posted by nemesis

I think I heard in a back and froth banter between Chris and Jeff one night Stubbs said the fastest he was ever timed from the right side was 3.69 but was at 3.85 - 3.9 with regularity. If my memory serves me right. So he is faster than Stubbs.

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I don't know if he is faster than Stubbs.... Gotta remember that Hamilton's 3.65 came from the left side, while Stubbs is running from the right side. But either way, both are absolutely 80 runners. It doesn't matter who is truly faster, because the amount of guys in that league of speed can be counted on my hands (in the majors).

It's cool to see Reds' farmhands ranked so high in a list like this.

But I have a couple questions: How significant is the fact that as a whole, the farm system didn't fare so well this season? Louisville did OK, as well as the Arizona rookie league team and Billings. But both A level teams and the AA team didn't do so hot. Is that due to a lack of talent, or just bad luck?

How important is head to head competition in the minor leagues? I guess I always thought that if the Reds farm teams did better than other farm systems, then that must mean the talent is better. How important is a winning record in the minors?

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Originally Posted by MikeS21

It's cool to see Reds' farmhands ranked so high in a list like this.

But I have a couple questions: How significant is the fact that as a whole, the farm system didn't fare so well this season? Louisville did OK, as well as the Arizona rookie league team and Billings. But both A level teams and the AA team didn't do so hot. Is that due to a lack of talent, or just bad luck?

How important is head to head competition in the minor leagues? I guess I always thought that if the Reds farm teams did better than other farm systems, then that must mean the talent is better. How important is a winning record in the minors?

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There are different answers depending on who you ask, but I really don't put much on winning in the minor leagues. In particular, players move up and down throughout the season. I have talked with guys who are around the teams more who fully believe that winning matters at that level because it comes into play in terms of how guys play as individuals. At the end of the day though, a guy is going to succeed/fail because of him, not because of how good/bad his teammates in the minor leagues were. The point of the farm is to get players to the Reds that can help them, not to win minor league games. If that happens, awesome. But as long as goal #1 keeps working, then it doesn't matter much.

Plus, think about how often guys had to be sent from Louisville up to Cincinnati. Every time that happened, it caused someone to move up in the chain, sometimes guys who weren't ready and were replacing key figures on that team. I don't pay much attention to the records of the minor league teams and I cover them every day. I watch the players, because they are what is important when it comes to the Reds.

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Originally Posted by MikeS21

It's cool to see Reds' farmhands ranked so high in a list like this.

But I have a couple questions: How significant is the fact that as a whole, the farm system didn't fare so well this season? Louisville did OK, as well as the Arizona rookie league team and Billings. But both A level teams and the AA team didn't do so hot. Is that due to a lack of talent, or just bad luck?

How important is head to head competition in the minor leagues? I guess I always thought that if the Reds farm teams did better than other farm systems, then that must mean the talent is better. How important is a winning record in the minors?

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What we often lose sight of is that the Reds themselves are young and get younger with each call-up.

If you go only by age-appropriate call-ups, the Louisville team would consist largely of those same players who became NL Central champs in the majors this year.

That in turn would move the younger AAA guys (like Chapman, Sappelt, and Francisco) to AA, A+, or even low A.

Think AA could have used a starter like Wood or a RF like Jay Bruce?

How much better would Lynchburg have been with Mike Leake as a starter and Devin Mesoraco all year?

It goes all the way through the organization.

Does winning matter? Sure. It's better than the alternative. But the real reason for the minor league pipeline is to make players ready for Cincy.

This would have made each team in the

From Jamie Ramsey:

AZL Postseason All-Star Robert Maddox blasted a home run in yesterday's Florida Instructional League action.

Daniel Corcino pitched 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, topping out at 96 (fastball, curveball, changeup)

http://twitter.com/Jamieblog

Florida?