I wanted to wait until the August 15 deadline had passed to post the August Edition. So, without further ado...
GRADE A
1. Yonder Alonso, 21, 1B, A+
2. Todd Frazier, 22, 1B/3B/LF, A+
3. Daryl Thompson, 22, RHP, AAA
GRADE B
4. Neftali Soto, 19, 3B/LF, A
5. Drew Stubbs, 23, CF, AAA
6. Chris Valaika, 22, 2B, AA
7. Josh Roenicke, 25, RHP, AAA
8. Kyle Lotzkar, 19, RHP, A (injured)
9. Devin Mesoraco, 20, C, A
10. Juan Francisco, 21, 1B/RF/C??, A+
11. Zach Stewart, 21, RHP, A+
GRADE C
12. Zach Cozart, 22, SS, A
13. Travis Wood, 21, LHP, A+
14. Matt Maloney, 24, LHP, AAA
15. Shaun Cumberland, 23, OF, AAA
16. Daniel Dorn, 23, OF, AA
17. Sean Henry, 22, OF, AA
18. Justin Turner, 23, 2B, AA
19. Brandon Waring, 22, 3B, A
20. Dallas Buck, 23, RHP, A+
ON THE RADAR
21. Sam LeCure, 23, RHP, AA
22. Daniel Herrera, 23, LHP, AAA
23. Tyler Pelland, 23, LHP, AAA
24. Sean Watson, 23, RHP, AA
25. Pedro Viola, 24, LHP, AA
KEEP AN EYE ON (too early to rate)
Yorman Rodriguez 16 OF R
Juan Duran 16 OF R
Alex Oliveras 18 OF R
Evan Hildenbrant 19 RHP R
Alex Buchholz 21 2B R (injured)
OTHER NAMES TO KNOW (no longer prospect status, but don't forget about)
Homer Bailey 22, RHP AAA
Micah Owings 25, RHP/OF?? AAA
Carlos Fisher 25, RHP AAA
Ben Jukich 25, LHP AA
Robert Manuel 25, RHP AA
Danny Richar 25, 2B/SS AAA
Craig Tatum 25, C AAA
The guy to watch in the last couple weeks has been Drew Stubbs of course, who rocketed all the way up to AAA after an impressive month in Chattanooga. Perhaps helped by the hole on the major league team, Stubbs figures to get an invite to big league camp in the spring with a legitimate shot to make the team, possibly even as a starter or at least in a platoon situation with Chris Dickerson. Additionally, the signings of Alonso and Rodriguez, coupled with the Dunn and Griffey trades, have boosted both the overall talent level as well as the depth of the system. Alonso and Owings should both be significant parts of the major league team by the end of 2009, while Richar should be a nice utility guy off the bench. Rodriguez, much like Juan Duran, has an astronomically high ceiling but is also several years away from being a factor. He was heralded as one of the best outfielders ever to sign out of Venezuela, hopefully he lives up to even half of that billing. Ditto for Duran out of the Dominican. Finally, I mentioned this in another thread last week, but I'd really like to see the Reds try Juan Francisco behind the plate. Many impressive names at the big league level started out as infielders in the minors, including All-Stars Russell Martin and Geovany Soto, as well as former All-Star Terry Steinbach, who was moved behind the plate while Jocketty was the farm director. Francisco would be the perfect target for this project IMO, as he has a very strong arm, and a promising bat that needs significant time to develop (and hopefully gain some discipline.) Teach him the position in the Arizona Fall League, let him play all winter in the Dominican, and then start back up again in Sarasota next season. If he picks the position up well, he could be in Chattanooga by the break. Mesoraco should probably begin next year in Dayton again anyway, as all reports seem to imply that he needs some serious work on his defense (and his offense, while not terrible, was no great shakes there either.) Zach Stewart has been shooting up the charts as he shoots up the system and continues to dominate. Dallas Buck is an interesting guy to watch, as he had Grade A talent before getting injured, and hopefully comes back from TJ surgery more like Francisco Liriano than Brandon Claussen. If he does, he will rise fast up the list.
SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS
While minor league staples like Chris Dickerson, Adam Rosales, and Ryan Hanigan are already up with the big club, I would like to see the following guys up in the next two weeks, as they should be in strong consideration for a roster spot come next spring:
1. Josh Roenicke- should have been called up weeks ago. Will get called up especially if Affeldt and/or Weathers are traded.
2. Shaun Cumberland- with the departures of Dunn and Griffey, the outfield should be an open casting call. Give Cumberland, Dorn, Dickerson, and maybe even Stubbs (depending on how he finishes the Louisville season) a chance to prove they can handle a big league role.
3. Daniel Dorn- alternate starts in LF between him and Cumberland (realizing they're both lefties, it's not really a platoon.) While he can't hit lefties, he hits righties probably better than anyone in the entire system.
4. Daniel Herrera- he had a nice debut earlier in the summer. Let's see if he can maintain his success in the bigs.
5. Tyler Pelland- nothing left to prove in the minors, his time has come. Let's see who can win the battle between him and Herrera to be the other lefty in the pen alongside Bray next year (assuming Affeldt doesn't accept arbitration.)
6. Danny Richar- can he fill in at SS in the bigs? There's only one way to find out. The roster won't be big enough for him and Janish (and Rosales) next year, so let's see what we got for Griffey.
Thoughts?