Project Prospects Reds Milb Camp tweets

[dougdirt]

Another outstanding looking prospect from CIN camp today: Porfirio Martinez. 21-year-old fireballer (touched 95 today) with a plus CB.

[camisadelgolf]

Martinez and Ramos have a lot in common. They both project as potential future closers.

[redsof72]

P. Martinez was in a battle for the 12th spot on the Dayton staff but if Lotzkar starts the year on the D.L., then two of the pitchers in that battle will end up making the team. Good arm, very raw, still just a thrower, not a pitcher. Some comparisons have actually been made to Junior Martinez in terms of makeup, and that is not a good thing. He doesn't throw as hard as Junior but has not struggled with the ridiculously high walk totals that Junior had. Both are guys who came out of very tough living situations without much education and it is a slow process of learning how to go from that to all the things that go into becoming a professional. For these kind of prospects, Tony Fossas is a great influence because he understands how hard it is for a guy to maintain his focus in a game situatuon and apply lessons learned on the field when that person came out of an environment where every day of his life brought questions of whether he would have anything to eat that day.

[lollipopcurve]

P. Martinez was in a battle for the 12th spot on the Dayton staff but if Lotzkar starts the year on the D.L., then two of the pitchers in that battle will end up making the team. Good arm, very raw, still just a thrower, not a pitcher. Some comparisons have actually been made to Junior Martinez in terms of makeup, and that is not a good thing. He doesn't throw as hard as Junior but has not struggled with the ridiculously high walk totals that Junior had. Both are guys who came out of very tough living situations without much education and it is a slow process of learning how to go from that to all the things that go into becoming a professional. For these kind of prospects, Tony Fossas is a great influence because he understands how hard it is for a guy to maintain his focus in a game situatuon and apply lessons learned on the field when that person came out of an environment where every day of his life brought questions of whether he would have anything to eat that day.

Nice post. Game played by people, after all.

Gotta root for these kids battling without a net.

[redsof72]

The story was that Junior lived in a bus station in the Dominican for a time and that neither of his parents were around. It was hard to watch him pitch sometimes but I understood that Tony knew this was a kid with a 97 mph fastball and if he could ever figure it out, it would be a true rags to riches story. And on the other side of the coin, if you cut him loose, you are sending him back to a life that was right back where he was before without much hope for anyting better. Junior was a real quiet kid and I can understand why Tony kept giving the kid chances. Unfortunately it did not work out. We will never hear from Junior again but hopefully he finds his way.

There is a wide variation of players from the Dominican. On the opposite end is a player like Ezequiel Infante, who is very smart, focused, and really helps players like Junior with everyday life, translating, offering advice, making sure they know where they are supposed to be off the field.

As I have said a million times, these things are why you can't base everything on stats. Does the player have an aptitude for taking what he learned in the bullpen into the game? Can he maintain his focus, pitch after pitch, with no let-ups? If he gives up a home run, does he stay on his game, or just start trying to throw everything 100 mph? If the umpire makes a bad call or a teammate makes an error, does he keep battling every pitch, or does he quit? Will he work on the side between outings and will he stay in top notch physical condition? Is he too stubborn to listen to anyone? All that goes into the development of a player.

As you said, they are people.

[OnBaseMachine]

Man, that's a sad story about Junior Martinez. I could never be a coach then because I couldn't have the heart to send the kid back into that tough situation. Hopefully he catches on with someone else and makes something of himself.

72, are the Reds planning on using Ramos as a starter? I would hope so. If he has a feel for three pitches then it wouldn't make much sense to waste his arm in the bullpen.

[redsof72]

I am sure he will be a starter for now and they will figure out later whether his third pitch is good enough to stay as a starter.

Extended S.T. rotation will be off the charts with Guillon, Correa, Mugarian, Cisco, Ramos, Clarke, Amezcua. They only play five games a week.

Reds have been making cuts from the bottom of the system up. Next round might feature some of those guys battling for jobs at Bakersfield. Justin Reed was released. Pitching wise, you have guys like Janke, Jeffords, Bowen, Gaffney, Braun battling for a couple of spots. The injuries at the big league level are bad for everyone except the two guys who would have been released but now won't be.

[JayBruceFan]

Do you know of anyone else that has been released? Or can you say?

[Kingspoint]

Bill Bavasi is a poor judge of talent.

[Kingspoint]

With that said, I did remind him that basing an opinion off of a guy in one viewing is often a poor idea.

Definitely.

[Scrap Irony]

This is part of the reason I struggle with internet "experts". Foster is a 25-year-old kid who decided to start a web site. That's it. He has no experience in the game aside from writing for six months at Baseball America and writing stories for his college newspaper for a couple of years.

I like that anyone writes about minor league baseball, but to take his word on anything related to baseball is asinine.