Reds sign Dominican LHP Luis Tejada for $600,000

[Sea Ray]

Define recent. Ervin was the top pick this year. Last year they got Winker in the sandwich round. Higher round guys like Jeff Gelalich, Ryan Lamarre, Tanner Rahier, Devin Lohman, Brodie Greene and Gabriel Rosa haven't come through, but there is still time for some of them. Hamilton was a second rounder who has a lot of promise. I'm pretty happy they went with Stephenson in 2011 and Leake in 2009. They took Grandal in 2010 and before those were Yonder, Mesoraco and Stubbs.

Keep that pitching pipeline producing and they can trade the older pitchers who are getting expensive for high caliber guys who've already passed much of the minor league test and are at exact positions where we need them.

9 of the top 12 picks in this year's draft were pitchers.

Last year the numbers were similar:

Of the 42 players selected by Cincinnati, 27 were pitchers. That includes first rounder Nick Travieso, a high school right-hander out of South Florida.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/...s_cin&c_id=cin

With numbers like that, you're really got to get it right on almost every hitter because you don't leave yourself much room for error

[RedlegJake]

A good pitching staff and weak lineup will keep you in the race. A bombastic hitting crew and weak pitching gets you the 55-56 Reds.

[Sea Ray]

A good pitching staff and weak lineup will keep you in the race. A bombastic hitting crew and weak pitching gets you the 55-56 Reds.

That seems to be the Walt's philosophy but I think it's gone to extreme. Take a look at the hitting numbers of our minor league teams. It's pathetic and needs to be addressed

[mth123]

Half the roster on the big league team and more than half on the teams in the minors are pitchers. Given the attrition and injury rate, you have to take well over 50% pitchers just to have enough bodies. I might agree that a position player would have made sense over Travieso last year, but was there one there who wouldn't have been a reach? They took OF with the 2 sandwich picks and an IF in the second round. The third round pick was a pitcher who is hurt. The 4th rounder is in Dayton's rotation and the 5th rounder was sidelined by an automibile accident. They took a catcher in round 6. 4 of the first 8 guys were position players and 3 of the first 4.

In 2011, Stephenson was the right choice in round 1. Rosa was taken as a project in Round 2. Round 3 was Cingrani. Hard to argue with that. Kyle McMyne in Round 4 was a pitcher, but then they took Ryan Wright and Sean Buckley in rounds 5 and 6. James Allen was a pitcher in round 7 but Jon Matthews was an OF in Round 8. 4 Position players in the first 8 picks and 4 pitchers, one of whom is the team's top prospect and another is in the Red's rotation and basically saved the season when Cueto went down.

This year they took a position player in round one, a Pitcher in the sandwich round (who was also touted as a potential OF), a position player in round 2. Pitchers in round 3 and 4 (with round 4 guy looking really good) and a SS in Round 5.

I just don't see what there is to complain about.

[Sea Ray]

Half the roster on the big league team and more than half on the teams in the minors are pitchers. Given the attrition and injury rate, you have to take well over 50% pitchers just to have enough bodies. I might agree that a position player would have made sense over Travieso last year, but was there one there who wouldn't have been a reach? They took OF with the 2 sandwich picks and an IF in the second round. The third round pick was a pitcher who is hurt. The 4th rounder is in Dayton's rotation and the 5th rounder was sidelined by an automibile accident. They took a catcher in round 6. 4 of the first 8 guys were position players and 3 of the first 4.

In 2011, Stephenson was the right choice in round 1. Rosa was taken as a project in Round 2. Round 3 was Cingrani. Hard to argue with that. Kyle McMyne in Round 4 was a pitcher, but then they took Ryan Wright and Sean Buckley in rounds 5 and 6. James Allen was a pitcher in round 7 but Jon Matthews was an OF in Round 8. 4 Position players in the first 8 picks and 4 pitchers, one of whom is the team's top prospect and another is in the Red's rotation and basically saved the season when Cueto went down.

This year they took a position player in round one, a Pitcher in the sandwich round (who was also touted as a potential OF), a position player in round 2. Pitchers in round 3 and 4 (with round 4 guy looking really good) and a SS in Round 5.

I just don't see what there is to complain about.

The minor league hitting numbers are what's there to complain about.

As for the drafts, I'm looking at the gross numbers. A ratio of 9:3 pitchers: position players is crazy out of whack even if you go through and justify each and every pick. We need to increase our odds that we'll develop more major league hitters. The odds of guys outside the top ten rds being starters in the bigs is pretty low. Then you put almost all your hopes on 3 guys who may have never swung a wooden bat. The hitters have a bust factor too due to that bat issue in particular.

The bottomline in all of this comes down to what is the reason for our lack of minor league hitting? Is it due to a lack of talent (scouting) or is it coaching? I think it's the first choice