Top pick Stubbs hitting 3rd
Drew Stubbs, the Reds' No. 1 selection from the University of Texas, will bat third and play center field in manager Rick Burleson's season-opening lineup tonight against the Great Falls White Sox.
Billy Rojo, who hit .274 with the Gulf Coast League Reds last season, will play second base and bat lead-off for the Mustangs, while shortstop Yoni Lasso, who played briefly in Billings last season, bats second.
Following Stubbs in the lineup and batting clean-up is first baseman Logan Parker, a 12th-round pick out of the University of Cincinnati. Then it's third baseman Jason Louwsma (29th round, Florida Gulf Coast), Michael McKennon (25th round, Texas-San Antonio), designated hitter Angel Colon (.255 with the GCL Reds last year), left fielder Chris Heisey (17th round, Messiah College) or Maikol Mesa (.250 with GCL Reds last year) and then catcher Justin Tordi (41st round from Florida in 2005).
Daniel Guerrero, a 6-foot-1 right-hander, will be on the mound tonight for the Mustangs. Guerrero was signed as a free agent out of Tecuala, Mexico, last year and he went 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA in 14 games for the Reds' Venezuelan Summer League team.
"I think things have gone well," Burleson said of his team's workouts heading into tonight's Pioneer League opener. "I think it's a very good group of young athletes, I really do. I'm expecting some good things from this club."
Great Falls, which is managed by Bobby Tolan, who played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1969-73, will feature catcher Tyler Reves, a fourth-round pick from Texas Tech, and second baseman John Shelby III, a fifth-round pick from Kentucky.
Pitcher Kyle McCulloch, a teammate of the Mustangs' Stubbs at the University of Texas, was the No. 1 pick for the White Sox but he hasn't been added to the Great Falls roster yet and likely won't be in Billings.