Redszone Community Prospect Vote: #10

[dougdirt]

Vote for the player who you think is the Reds #10 prospect (the best prospect who is not yet on the list). We will go with this as far as you guys want to take it.

I will post a new list every 2 days with 10-15 options to vote on.

If you feel like making an argument on why a guy should be voted here, feel free to vote and state why you voted for that player.

If there is someone that is not currently listed as an option to vote on, vote for 'other' then just state who you want to vote for in the thread.

If there is anyone you would like to see as an option on the next poll, just say so and if they garner enough support, they will be placed on the next poll. Guys with the lowest amount of votes will usually be removed for the next few guys who were talked about in the previous thread.


Prospect 1 - Jay Bruce
Prospect 2 - Homer Bailey
Prospect 3 - Johnny Cueto
Prospect 4 - Joey Votto
Prospect 5 - Todd Frazier
Prospect 6 - Drew Stubbs
Prospect 7 - Matt Maloney
Prospect 8 - Josh Roenicke
Prospect 9 - Travis Wood

[AmarilloRed]

Danny Dorn. He hit for a good BA, showed some power, improved his OBP and SLG. from Sarasota to Chattanooga(admittedly in limited action), and showed he was a legitimate prospect. Time will only tell if he is a platoon player or a starting outfielder, but I think we could see him in Cincinnati before much longer.

[RedsManRick]

Yup, Danny "Don't Call Me Roger" Dorn it is. If the biggest knock on a lefty slugger is his difficult hitting lefty pitching at age 22, I consider that a plus. He crushes righties enough to earn himself the opportunity to learn to hit lefties better.

[dougdirt]

I have to go Devin Mesoraco here.

He is a toolsy guy as a catcher... not exactly fast, but he isn't slow (yet at least). He has very good bat speed. Has both average and power potential while playing a very important defensive position. Speaking of which, he plays it great. He has a cannon of an arm behind the plate and above average catching and recieving skills.

He had a rough debut at the plate, but he was also swinging a bat with two injured thumbs for almost the entire season.

He is far, but he has all the tools you want at a premiere defensive position and has age on his side.... I have to go with him here.

[TOBTTReds]

Danny Dorn. He hit for a good BA, showed some power, improved his OBP and SLG. from Sarasota to Chattanooga(admittedly in limited action), and showed he was a legitimate prospect. Time will only tell if he is a platoon player or a starting outfielder, but I think we could see him in Cincinnati before much longer.

I went with Mez for this reason. Considering ceilings, Mez has a higher one than a possible platoon player. I reserve possible platoons to 11-30 if there are no possible stars left.

[dougdirt]

RMR, Dorn turned 23 in July this past season.

[M2]

Carlos Fisher is a large-framed man who throws hard with sharp downward bite. That's practically a blueprint for the ideal GAB pitcher. He's still got more to prove, but so does everyone left on the list.

Devin Mesoraco still has to prove he can hit his weight at the lowest level of pro ball. I'll ask again, in what universe does he merit better consideration than Lotzkar? Maybe he's got talent, but not a single one of us has seen it translate onto the field yet.

[dougdirt]

Carlos Fisher is a large-framed man who throws hard with sharp downward bite. That's practically a blueprint for the ideal GAB pitcher. He's still got more to prove, but so does everyone left on the list.

Devin Mesoraco still has to prove he can hit his weight at the lowest level of pro ball. I'll ask again, in what universe does he merit better consideration than Lotzkar? Maybe he's got talent, but not a single one of us has seen it translate onto the field yet.

I went with Mesoraco over Lotzkar based on scouting reports (where Mes gets the slight edge... and I do mean very slight edge) . I like everything I hear about his defense behind the plate and his swing is also something I like when he has it working in tune with itself.

[Kc61]

I think you have to include Devin M in the top ten. He was a relatively high first round pick, very toolsy for a catcher. His GCL performance is probably meaningless, particularly since he had some injuries.

In the period leading to the draft he was consistently ranked by the publications as one of the top twenty prospects in the entire draft. I don't think the Reds are so deep that such a guy is below the ten spot in the system.

Not too much support for Francisco who was a powerhouse at low-A ball. Once Mesoraco is selected, I'm on the Francisco bandwagon.

[M2]

I went with Mesoraco over Lotzkar based on scouting reports (where Mes gets the slight edge... and I do mean very slight edge) . I like everything I hear about his defense behind the plate and his swing is also something I like when he has it working in tune with itself.

I think the standard should be that he should have to demonstrate it in more than theory before getting much credit on that front. We're past the point where we have to take the assessment of Mesoraco's abilities solely on faith, at least we should be. The problem is those supposed abilities failed to materialize on the field, so he's still a nebulous talent, hardly the sort of thing deserving of a top 10 vote.

All he's demonstrated so far is he can hit high school pitchers in central PA.

[M2]

I think you have to include Devin M in the top ten. He was a relatively high first round pick, very toolsy for a catcher. His GCL performance is probably meaningless, particularly since he had some injuries.

God forbid somebody require him to earn that place on the field.

We'll know how meaningless his GCL performance was after 2008. If he makes a splash in Billings (or Dayton, but I've got my doubts the Reds will stick him there), then it's meaningless. If he continues to struggle, then it stands as the first piece of concrete evidence that Mesoraco was more of a kid with catching tools than a complete prospect.

[dougdirt]

I think the standard should be that he should have to demonstrate it in more than theory before getting much credit on that front. We're past the point where we have to take the assessment of Mesoraco's abilities solely on faith, at least we should be. The problem is those supposed abilities failed to materialize on the field, so he's still a nebulous talent, hardly the sort of thing deserving of a top 10 vote.

All he's demonstrated so far is he can hit high school pitchers in central PA.

Well thats where we differ in our viewing of prospects. A guy with 200 at bats to his name is someone I am going to take his numbers with a grain of salt. When I look at his scouting reports though, things built over the last three years worth of scouting, his is ahead of everyone else on the list. Could he absolutely bomb? Sure could.... but his tools package is better than anyone left on the list for their position short of Chris Dickerson who has 5 or 6 years on him in age.

[dougdirt]

God forbid somebody require him to earn that place on the field.

We'll know how meaningless his GCL performance was after 2008. If he makes a splash in Billings (or Dayton, but I've got my doubts the Reds will stick him there), then it's meaningless. If he continues to struggle, then it stands as the first piece of concrete evidence that Mesoraco was more of a kid with catching tools than a complete prospect.

M2, you sound like you are really offended that someone thinks Mesoraco is deserving of a Top 10 ranking. Is it really all that concerning that someone likes his package of tools and defensive abilities and is willing to not put a ton of stock into 138 at bats compared to someones scouting report? And yeah, you are going to be hard pressed to find any prospect fresh out of high school that is a 'complete prospect'.

[RedsManRick]

I think the standard should be that he should have to demonstrate it in more than theory before getting much credit on that front. We're past the point where we have to take the assessment of Mesoraco's abilities solely on faith, at least we should be. The problem is those supposed abilities failed to materialize on the field, so he's still a nebulous talent, hardly the sort of thing deserving of a top 10 vote.

All he's demonstrated so far is he can hit high school pitchers in central PA.

I agree 100%. I'm fine with any unproven (in either direction) #1 pick in the top 20, but unless you've got an extremely thin system, I want to see performance at the professional level first.

I don't hold his 2007 performance against him, but I've seen too many catchers whose bats never really came around.

There was a great point made in the #9 thread regarding the high potential guys. If they have a breakout season, I'm quite likely to buy in to it, and treat them differently moving forward. But I'm simply not a fan of ranking prospects highly before they produce.

If on one hand you have a list of players who were very highly recommended per scouting reports but have yet to produce and the other you have people with good, but not glowing report, but who have, I'm guessing the latter groups tends to pan out more frequently. I'm guessing that there are more Reggie Taylors than Brandon Larsons.

If a Moreseco or Wood has a great season which corroborates the scouting report I could very well place them in the top 5 next year.

I'd be interested to see a list simply of "highest ceiling", regardless of performance to date.

[M2]

Well thats where we differ in our viewing of prospects. A guy with 200 at bats to his name is someone I am going to take his numbers with a grain of salt. When I look at his scouting reports though, things built over the last three years worth of scouting, his is ahead of everyone else on the list. Could he absolutely bomb? Sure could.... but his tools package is better than anyone left on the list for their position short of Chris Dickerson who has 5 or 6 years on him in age.

I'm all for taking his 200 ABs with a grain of salt. Heck, gimme a bucket of salt.

As for his tools, what I've read leads me to believe he's the typicle "toolsy" catcher, which is code for catch-and-throw skills. Would he be a toolsy OF? Would we be talking about his power, speed and ability to hit for average at that position. I highly doubt it.