Sports/Lookouts: Reds prospects faring well
Wednesday, July 12, 2006, at 4:53 p.m.
Filed by David Paschall
The Cincinnati Reds began this season with the worst minor league system in all of baseball according to Baseball America, but they shouldn’t start out next season in the same spot.
Pitcher Homer Bailey and first baseman Joey Votto are putting up impressive numbers for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, as are pitcher Travis Wood and outfielder Jay Bruce with the Single-A Dayton Dragons. Bailey (2004) and Bruce (2005) are former first-round picks by the Reds, while Votto (2002) and Wood (2005) are former second-round selections.
Bailey has gone 3-0 with an 0.00 earned run average in his 17 innings since a June 19 promotion from the high Single-A Florida State League, while Votto leads the Southern League in batting average (.327), doubles (29), home runs (19) and RBIs (56). Votto’s 199 total bases leads all of minor league baseball.
Bruce is hitting .322 with 13 homers and 60 RBIs for the Dragons, while Wood is 6-1 with a 3.72 ERA in 17 starts. Bruce and Wood could be Lookouts next season, though each likely will start the year in high-A Sarasota.
Baseball America is not scheduled to release another ranking of farm systems until March 2007.
E-mail David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com
http://www.tfponline.com/absolutenm/...2693&zoneid=31