Reds Sign 16 Year Old Outfielder Juan Duran

[OnBaseMachine]

Considering Juan Duran is 16-years old I don't think I'll worry too much. Diaz was 23 when the Reds signed him. Big difference there.

[ochre]

Considering Juan Duran is 16-years old I don't think I'll worry too much. Diaz was 23 when the Reds signed him. Big difference there.

Diaz was 21 when the Reds signed him; he was 24 the next day.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Well, we're pretty sure he's 16 years old.

(I keed, I keed.)

[ChatterRed]

6'6" 220 pounds works in the outfield. A tall, skinny guy with a build like Michael Jordan can still patrol the OF with great aplomb.

6'6" 260 pounds is a different story. A tall, thick guy with a build like Charles Barkley might be able to perform adequately if he is a ridiculous athlete, but it is much more likely he would be a liability out there.

Charles Barkley was only 6'4 1/2", but got everything out of his size. He even competed for rebounding titles in the NBA, while always being the short wide body.

[OnBaseMachine]

Well the Dominican Summer League season ended yesterday which means we won't be hearing from Juan Duran anymore this season. He finished his first pro season with a line of .215/.340/.319 - .658 with 24 walks in 135 atbats. Looking at the numbers it's not very impressive but when you factor in he's on 16-years old and hasn't even begun to fill out yet then it becomes a little more impressive. He started strong (.286/.409/.486 - .895 in 35 atbats in June) and finished OK (.268/.318/.366 in last 11 games) and struggled in between. All in all I was pleased with what he did. He's extremely young and battled an elbow problem caused by him growing so much in the last year. The stats weren't eye popping but he showed good tools and wasn't overwhelmed against older competition. Hopefully he has a nice offseason (probably playing more baseball in some sort of league) and is ready to come to the United States in 2009 and play in the Gulf Coast League.

[crazyredfan40]

The thing that I like to see at such a young age, is his ability to take a walk...He only hit .215, but his OBP was .340 which is very good...When the hits come around the OBP could climb up to .400 or so...

[camisadelgolf]

The thing that I like to see at such a young age, is his ability to take a walk...He only hit .215, but his OBP was .340 which is very good...When the hits come around the OBP could climb up to .400 or so...

Being known as the millionaire 16-year-old probably greatly hurt his chances of getting good pitches to hit. A lot of guys in the DSL have trouble throwing pitches over the plate anyway.