Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeRedleg View Post
I'm intrigued by Sappelt. His numbers kind of remind me of Chris Dickerson. In fact, that wouldn't be a bad ceiling comp for his future.

Right now I would have to think that he's got to be one of the top OF prospects in the Reds system. Considering Alonso and Francisco are not true OF'er's and Dorn is getting up there in age, and Heisey and Stubbs are already with the big club, Sappelt might just be the #1 true OF prospect (before the draft and signing of Perez) in the entire system.
There is some truth in that. He is probably in the top five or so, but that also points to this team's reluctance to draft true corner OF (other that Bruce) dating back to Dunn & Kearns - which has been about 10 years now I believe. Not just premium picks either - throughout the draft.

This teams drafts boat loads of CFs and 4th/5th OF-types, but not much in the way of power potential. Pants' love for five toolers was legendary and ridiculous, but there's the other extreme too. We've seen that from the Reds recently and with Bruce's struggles, they may be set to start paying for it.

I believe the Reds need at least one corner OF bat with Plus power potential in each draft and a premium pick (at least the the top 5 or 6 rounds) every three years.